A Girl Called Equus
by Batman'sBeauty18
Summary: When the JL rescues a young girl from Luthor's grasp, they realize she holds a secret that could destroy them forever. As the JL tries to determine if she is an innocent pawn or cold blooded murderer, they uncover a disturbing truth.
1. Innocent

Sitting in the Watchtower, on monitor duty, J'onn looked up at the sound of the beeping. According to the screen, there had been a bank robbery right outside of New York City, near Manhattan. According to eyewitnesses, it involved 10 masked super villains with special power, including one who could create darkness, another who could manipulate objects and create field with a purple beam, and at the head of it all was Lex Luthor. Quickly getting Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Superman on the comm, he alerted them to the situation. They were last seen entering a large warehouse near Washington Square Park. They decided that J'onn would join them outside the warehouse, where they quickly met up on the roof. Looking into the building through a window, they saw no evidence of the jewelry. Instead, what they saw made even Batman sick to his stomach.

A girl, who looked around 16 years old, was bound to an air vent in the middle of the large room. In front of her, forming a half circle, were Grundy, the Shade, Star Sapphire, Copperhead, Lex, and a new villain who had just recently showed up on the Jl's radar, Mind Bender, who has known for her ability to read and manipulate minds. The girl was dressed in what looked almost like black spandex from head to toe. Leather boots that went up to just below her knees covered her feet, leather gloves covered her hands, and a black cape covered her beaten and bloody form. A hood on the cape covered her hair, and cast a dark shadow over her eyes, which were concealed by a sheer black scarf tied around her head. The only clue that it was a woman at all was her figure; although her severe malnutrition made it hard to tell, she was almost skin and bones. Her outfit was torn is several places; long bloody slashes ran down her arms and legs, across her torso, and down her face. She appeared to be unconscious; the pole she was tied to seemed to be the only thing that kept her form collapsing.

Besides him, Batman felt Wonder Woman's muscles tense as she started to spring into action. Batman placed a restraining hand on her and shook his head to the rest of the Justice League who were starting to do the same.

"We can't go in yet, we need to find out what Luthor wants," Batman responded quietly. "Anything he wants this badly will be very bad for us."

"I will not idly sit by, and watch one of my sisters be tortured!" Wonder Woman spat out, angered at Batman's passiveness.

Before any of them could do anything, Luthor spoke.

"Just tell me where Serenity is. That's all, just tell me where it is and this will all stop." Luthor spoke quietly and seductively.

"Fine! Fine! I'll tell you!" the girl spoke franticly.

At that Batman started to get up, he needed to stop this before she told him, whatever it was that he was after, it would no doubt be for a horrible purpose. However, his movements were stilled by her next response.

"Where is Serenity?" Luther inquired again, more insistent this time. He could barely keep the glee from his face, finally she was breaking.

"Up yours and around the corner." The girl responded savagely.

Luther's face turned red, and he barely managed to contain his anger. The Justice League sat atop the rooftop, too stunned by her answer to do anything but sit and gawk.

"Lexy, Lexy, Lexy. What did I tell you about eating so many red peppers? You really are starting to resemble one, and I can practically see the steam coming out of your ears, at least stop eating the very spicy ones." The teasing tone of the words did not fit with the murderous look the girl had on her face, or the low hiss of a voice in which she said it. Lex lunged forward and viciously backhanded her across the face.

"Well, if you're going to make your face red, then fine. But don't take me with you," she chided. This time Lex propelled his knee into her gut, using all the strength he could.

The Justice League saw the blood completely drain from her face a she gasped for air. Batman started to get up, and the rest did the same. "Let's go" Superman urged his teammates.

Actually, the girl had not felt the brunt of the impact, even though her clothing looked like spandex, it was in fact a made from a very specialized material, designed to, amongst other thing, deflect blows and disperse the shock. After his knee connected with her gut, she leaned against the ropes that bound her hands, the ones she had been sawing through with a small blade Luthor had not noticed. Pulling them free, she hooked her left arm under his knee and pulled it closer to her chest. Surging upwards onto her feet, she pulled him with her, then promptly dropped him and delivered a roundhouse kick with her right leg that connect solidly with his neck. Hitting a pressure point on his neck with her foot, she knocked him out.

The moment the Justice League had seen her knock out Lex, they had burst through the door. Until then the possibility that this had been a trap had kept Batman from fully feeling the need to rush in and save the damsel in distress. But he knew Luthor, if Luthor was going to set up a trap, he would most certainly not be the one knocked unconscious. So with every intention of saving the girl, the Justice League burst through the window.

The girl heard heavy footsteps behind, and did not even bother looking to see who it was. As Grundy lunged at her from behind, she pivoted and drove her knee into his stomach, using his own momentum to propel him into the wall. Surprised by the lack of villains rushing towards her, she tuned to look behind her. Luthor was up, and had a small greens tone in his hand. He was towering over Superman, and the super hero was crawling backwards, trying to escape. At first she thought that maybe Superman wasn't all he was cracked up to be, but then she recognized the stone in his hand as kryptonite. She heard other battles going on behind her and blocked them out. The girl looked around for her sword and sheath, it usually hung over her shoulder on the leather belt she used to carry her knives. Seeing it, she hurriedly limped over and took one of the knives out of its sheath. She aimed it directly towards Lex Luthor's heart.

Superman could barely stay conscious; the kryptonite was quickly sapping his strength. He fought the black that was trying to overtake him, needing to help in any way he could. That was why he had become Superman; he had needed to help people, to use his powers to help people. He had never given up on anyone, not even Lex, and he would not start by giving up on himself. Pulling himself to a sitting position, he looked around for the closest team member. Green Lantern and Star Sapphire were having a "green vs. purple" battle, Flash was trying evade the black vines that were shooting out of the Shade's cane, J'onn and Mind Bender were attacking each other telepathically, Grundy was trying to compensate for his double digit IQ by hurling everything in the room at Batman, and the Ultrahumanite was getting blows in wherever he could.

Looking up towards Luthor, he saw the girl standing behind Lex, aiming a knife at Lex's heart. For all the times that Lex had tried to hurt people, to kill him, to destroy the league, he knew that he would never forgive himself if that knife killed Lex. That was why Copperhead had referred to him as a "boy scout". Even if he knew, deep down, that Luthor would never be good again, even if he knew that Luthor would kill him without any regrets, he could not sit by and let that knife plunge into Lex's heart. As much as he wanted to stop her, he was having trouble staying conscious, there was no way he could push Lex aside. Catching the girl's eye, he shook his head "no", hoping to convey his message to her.

She looked at him, and for a second he thought that she would ignore him. On her face was a look he had never seen on anyone so young, and it threw him. The pure hatred on her face was a look he had seen on Batman when he talked about the man who murdered him parents, or on Wonder Woman when spoke of Hades. But the hatred on her face was too such a degree that it startled him, and it scared him to think of what could have happened to her, to make her hate Luthor that much. The intensity on her face was not from him standing back as other people tortured her; it was much more personal then that.

The girl has glanced down at Superman, and saw him struggling to rise. Instantly her respect for him swelled, she knew how it felt to be against what seemed like an unbeatable enemy, it took a lot of courage to keep fighting. Looking at him, she saw him distinctly shake him head, as he mouthed the words "no". She instantly understood that this man would not have her kill another, even one who was as sadistic and bad as Luthor, the man who right now was standing over him, trying to kill him.

At first she was going to ignore him, she cared nothing for his noble and foolish feelings. Thinking only of the pain she would have been saved if Superman had had the guts to kill him earlier, she had drawn her arm back to throw the knife. The only thing that made her hand stray from it's path, and instead cause her to let the knife sink deep into his calf, was the fear she would see in his face when she wrapped her hands around his neck and squeezed. She wanted him to know it was her that would cause his death, her that would watch as the very last traces of life left his body, her he would beg for life to, it would be her, and not some good two shoes alien who could have prevented it all by having a spine and killing Luthor in the first place.

Superman had watched as the emotions had played across the girl's face. The hatred was there, and Superman had thought she was going to kill Lex. He was surprised when she flicked her wrist sideways, instead sending the blade deep into Luthor's calf muscle, causing him to drop the kryptonite. Superman managed to drag himself far enough away from the kryptonite, and felt his strength slowly returning. Suddenly, everything was getting darker and darker. At first Superman thought that it was still the kryptonite, but then he noticed that he was feeling stronger. Belatedly, Superman realized that the Shade must have been trying to escape. He looked towards the girl, planning to ask her to get the kryptonite father away, when he saw Copperhead latch onto her shoulder with his jaw. The last thing he saw before the whole room went black was the girl sinking her sword into Copperhead's stomach, just as Copperhead sunk his jaw even harder into her shoulder.

Equus had seen the look of intense relief on Superman's face when the knife had sunk straight into his calf, causing him to howl in pain, but obviously still alive. Her first reflex was to draw her sword to finish the kill.

No, I want to feel his pulse speed up, as he cowers away from me in fear. I want to have my hands around his neck, and feel as his heart gives up its hopeless struggle to beat.

With a primal grin, she started to pull off her gloves, lusting for the sensation of her hands around his neck, literally choking off and chance for survival. Belatedly, she realized that the room was getting darker and darker. She looked around the room for the cause and could barely see through the thick smog. She saw a shadowed figure holding a cane above his head; whatever light was left was glinting of the jewel-topped object. She recognized the Shade's hat, and reached for her sword. She was about to draw it when she felt an intense stabbing pain in her right shoulder. She heard the hiss of Copperhead, and felt a burning spreading through her shoulder as the venom entered her bloodstream. Suddenly, it felt like she had been placed in an oven, the burning had now encompassed her body. Then the pain came, like a million tiny needles stabbing into every part of her body. She fought the immense black surrounding her, both of Shade's doing and that of her dying body. With a last conscious though, she drew her sword and sank it deep into Copperhead's stomach, just as he latched down harder.

As soon as the Green Lantern had noticed the smog, he had used his ring to illuminate the room. Unfortunately, he had been preoccupied by his battle with Star Sapphire and had at first thought the darkness with caused by a hard blow to the head. Finally a much-welcomed green light penetrated through the darkness. GL was immediately reassured to see Wonder Woman, Batman, the Flash and J'onn all standing apparently unharmed. He focused his thoughts on locating Superman. He heard a grunt, and was immediately relieved to see the familiar red and blue clad figure slowly getting to his feet. Flash ran over immediately to help.

"What happened to you big guy?" Flash inquired.

"Kryptonite." Superman spat out the words like they left a bad taste in his mouth.

Spotting the infamous green stone, Flash quickly kicked it to the other side of room.

"I'm fine!" was Batman's unmistakable reply to J'onn's inquiring about why his should was sticking out at a very odd angle.

"You dislocated your shoulder," Superman commented dryly, knowing it would fall on deaf ears.

Silently cursing X-ray vision, Batman grasped his arm in his good hand, and quickly maneuvered it back into place. Flash winced and turned away as he heard a pop of the bone sliding back into place.

"Now I don't" Batman commented.

"Oh no." Came Flash's ominous reply to the sight in front of him.

Batman quickly rushed over to where he stood, completely ignoring J'onn's protests about running with a hurt arm. Green Lantern hurried over to Batman, after hearing his terse reply of "call an ambulance." Bending down, he saw Copperhead, unmoving, lying on top of the girl, with his jaw locked onto her shoulder. The girl herself looked like she had tried to twist away, but had actually just down more damage to herself. Seeing all the blood, GL knew immediately that one person could not lose that much and still live.

Unless…carefully dislodging Copperhead's jaw from her shoulder, he started to push Copperhead off of the girl. Seeing the sword in the girl's hand, he followed it from hilt to end, glad to see it embedded deep into Copperhead's stomach. He was not happy that Copperhead had been hurt, as bad a villain as he might be, GL preferred live suspects over dead ones. Live ones tell you things, like where the evil multi-millionaire behind the kidnapping and torture of an innocent girl was, dead ones do not. Unless of course, the villain was stupid enough to get some substance unique to the place where said billionaire was hiding, in which case, he liked the dead ones better: they were a lot quieter. No, he was happy that Copperhead was injured because that meant that some, if not most, of the blood was his, in which case they might both still be alive. Hearing the sirens not too far off, he went over to the girl and tried to stem the blood flowing from her shoulder, as Batman did the same with Copperhead.

Copperhead started moaning loudly, "Oh, oh, I'm dying here! Somebody please help me! I'm innocent!"

Finishing a professional check of Copperhead, Batman quickly punched him in the side of his head to shut him up.

"I could have just brought sleep to him telepathically" J'onn said with a frown, he disapproved of unnecessary violence.

"What, and deprive the Bats of his fun?" Flash responded.

"There's enough fun to go around" Batman replied with a glare, tightening his fist and walking towards Flash.

Flash immediately put his hand in the air as a sign up surrender. Batman walked past him and knelt besides the girl. Picking up her arm, he took he pulse and felt her forehead. Frowning at the too fast pulse and extremely high fever, turned to the rest of the League and said, "Copperhead should be fine, the sword missed anything vital. The girl is a different story. A hospital is going to have to make an anti venom for Copperhead's bite, and I don't think we have that long. She got an unusually high amount, coupled with her small size and the fact that she probably has not had anything to eat or drink in 2 or 3 days, the venom is acting quicker and more potently then I've ever seen it do before. We need to get her back to watch tower now, we still have the anti venom you used on me."

"Agreed," Superman replied, "John, you'll get there faster if you just take her. We'll come behind in the Javelin."

GL bent over her, and concentrated. His ring lit up, and a green shielding started to engulf her and him. As it started to close completely, it suddenly deactivated.

"What's wrong?" Wonder Woman asked.

"I'm not sure, something about her is preventing my ring from working on her. It's working fine around me, just not her."

"Then J'onn and I will take her back in the Javelin." Batman said, in a tone that commanded the attention of everyone present.

"And the rest of?" Flash asked.

"Green Lantern and Flash will go back with Copperhead, make sure he lives and see what you can find out when he wakes up. Wonder Woman and I will start looking for Luthor." Superman replied.

Batman bent over an easily lifted the girl into his arms; he was surprised at how light she was.

"Let me carry her Batman" J'onn insisted.

"No, it's alright. She's very light, too light." He replied

Superman's frown deepened at this, and he and Wonder Woman took off. Next, Flash and GL followed the ambulance that Copperhead had been loaded into towards the hospital.

Walking back to the Javelin with J'onn, Batman was astounded. He knew firsthand what it felt like to be bit by Copperhead, the burning, the pain, and how hard it was to stay aware. He had barely had enough energy to tell John to ignore him, much less make it convincing. He had seen Copperhead's wound, the sword had struck in a very specific area, targeted to cause incapacitating pain but without causing major bleeding or hitting any major organs. Targeting it with a fist, that was easy, it was something that Batman did on a daily basis. But sticking a sword straight through it, while your world was clouded with pain? That was difficult, but also something that Batman himself had experienced.

He was wary of this girl, she obviously knew how to handle a sword, and damn well at that. The sword itself was interesting; he had never seen a design like it. Nor could he tell what it was made of. He glanced at the sword, which was sheathed, the leather belt containing the sword and knives resting in J'onn's hand. He would love to see her use it, the sword itself looked too big for her to carry, and it was weapon you did not see on a regular basis in Gotham.

A sword is a nice change from the usual guns. I'm ok with a sword, but I still would not mind seeing someone really good use one. An expert fighter should be proficient with any weapon he might encounter, and even weapons he does not think he will encounter.

Walking up the ramp and into the Javelin, he laid the girl onto one of the seats, frowning at the heat radiating up from her body. Sliding into the driver's seat, he easily maneuvered the Javelin out of Earth's atmosphere, and quickly arrived at the Watchtower.

"I will take her to the medical bay. I want you to come too, Batman. I need to make sure your shoulder is healing correctly. You should not have attempted to place it back in by yourself." J'onn scolded him.

"When I was little, it used to pop out all the time. That happens to some earth children when they put too much weight on their arms. I learned how to pop it back in when I was 4. It still happens occasionally." Batman replied, running to try and keep up with J'onn, who floated ahead, with the girl in his arms.

They reached the med bay, and J'onn placed her onto one of the bio beds. Glancing at her vitals, her muttered aloud. "Temperature is 103.1, blood pressure is in the hypertensive range, heart rate is way too high, and her pulse ox is lowering too quickly. She also lost quite a bit of blood from the wound itself."

"Batman, hand me one unit of O Negative blood, and 10 ccs of the anti-venom."

Batman quickly did as he was told, and brought over the necessary equipment. J'onn put an oxygen mask on the girl's face, and injected her with the anti-venom. He put an IV in her arm, and hooked it up to the blood and a unit of saline.

Seeing Batman's look, he said quietly, "She's very dehydrated, and malnourished. Her body was not at its peak to begin with, so that will make it harder for her to combat the venom. She also lost a lot of blood, which will only worsen things. If she can hang on long enough for the anti-venom to completely circuit through her blood stream, she should be fine. The problem is that the first thing the venom does is trigger the nervous system, causing spasms of pain. The body reacts to this by having the adrenal gland secrete massive amounts of adrenaline. The adrenaline causes her heart rate to go up very quickly. Once the venom progresses, it stops the spasms and adrenaline is no longer secreted. Without the adrenaline, the heart rate returns to a normal rhythm and the venom starts to kill by shutting down kidney function. The venom is designed to cause massive amounts of pain, and kill slowly, which is why it does not prolong the initial pain, otherwise the body would run out of adrenaline while the heart still requires it and the heart would not be able to pump. The girl has already been having spasms for the past 15 minutes, and since I just administered the anti-venom, it could take around just that long for it to work completely. I am worried that since the anti-venom reverses the process of the venom, it will not cause kidney failure. This is a good thing, but that also means the time that she was experience spasm will be doubled since the venom cannot progress. In effect, her body will be secreting massive amounts of adrenaline, which will be the only thing keeping her heart pumping. Eventually that will run out, and her heart will stop. I am hoping that the anti-venom will stop the spasms before then, but because she is already weak, her heart is not as strong as it should be."

"What can we do?" Batman asked.

"I'm giving her fluids and blood to replace what she lost. If necessary I can give her artificial adrenaline to keep her heart pumping, but that it only a temporary solution. Right now, all we can do is wait, we should know in around 20 minutes whether it will work or not."

"Fine. I'll go see if anyone else has found anything. Call me if there is any change."

Using at the large computer screen in the main room of the Watchtower, Batman contacted GL.

"Is Copperhead awake?" Batman asked.

"Not yet. He's fine, but he has a pretty bad concussion and won't be conscious for a while." GL answered.

"We need him awake."

"I know, they think he should be awake by tomorrow morning. I have some fibers that were on him though."

"Fine. Head on back here, but make sure the police notify you as you as he's awake. Bring all the evidence back here; I can analyze it better without a bunch of rookie cops looking over my shoulder."

"We're on our way. GL out."

Next, Batman tried to communicate with Superman.

"Have you found anything yet?" he asked.

"Yes and no" responded Superman.

"What does that mean?" Batman snarled. He was already impatient with the lack of progress, he should have gone down with them and look for clues. But he was still wary of the girl, and wanted to be here when she woke up.

"It means that we have not found any trace of Lex but we have found the stolen jewelry."

"How?"

"The police received an anonymous call with the location of jewelry. It was sitting right where the caller said, and nothing is missing or tampered with. We checked it all thoroughly. I don't think we're going to find anything that will lead us to Lex. We already had the police put an APB out for him and all the other Meta villains, but so far nothing."

"No, and you won't get anything. Luther is very careful."

"Wonder Woman and I are going to head back to the Watchtower. I want to see what the girl has to say."

"Fine." Batman disconnected his communicator and leaned back against the chair.

Looking at the security monitors, he saw GL and Flash floating into the Watchtower, courtesy of GL's ring. 10 minutes later Superman and Wonder Woman flew in; using the small oxygen masks Batman had developed for that purpose.

They all congregated in the medical bay, listening with rapt attention as J'onn reported on the girl's condition. Everyone in the med bay was staring at the girl form the corner of the room. They each felt that they had failed her. They were supposed to prevent people from suffering, yet here they had failed. This girl's life might never be the same, and if she died, everyone in that room would feel her blood cascading over her hands, feel her life flicker out before them, feel the pain of her parents, her family, her friends, and embrace it as their own. They would mourn this girl, a girl who they had never known, a girl who's name they didn't even know, because they had failed her, they had been her superhero, she had put her life in their hands, and they had failed her. J'onn's soft voice startles the team members out of their thoughts.

"She is stable. It was, however, very close. Her heart stopped, although I had to administer a massive dose of adrenaline, and perform CPR, which cracked several of her ribs. Normally, the venom would not kill this quickly, but combined with her emaciated state, and blood loss, her body was weakened to start with. She has not eaten or drank anything in approximately 3 days. Therefore, she was extremely dehydrated and had a very low blood sugar level. I administered saline to rehydrate her and glucose, and well as blood, adrenaline, and the anti-venom. The anti-venom started to work around 10 minutes ago, and her heart rate has since returned to normal. Besides the malnutrition, 2 cracked ribs, and bruising she should be fine." J'onn's report did much to relieve all the members present. All say one.

"You said should? And why is she unconscious?" Batman asked. He hated the vague terming of doctors, and although technically J'onn was not one, he sure acted like on sometimes.

"I honestly have no idea why she is not conscious. She should be fully alert and functioning."

"Could she be like…what's the medical term? A few brain cells short of a happy meal? Dead as a doornail? Brain dead?" Flash asked, using his superior tactfulness.

"If you mean in a persistent vegetative state, it did occur to me. It was possible that at some point she went into shock while she was bitten with the venom and stopped breathing long enough to cause brain damage, but I find this to be very unlikely. I did try and enter her mind but was confused by what I found. Even in someone completely brain-dead, with no active thoughts, a person's mind would still have traces of who they were. Traces of what they liked, disliked, favorite color, even if there were no active thoughts. However, when I entered her mind, I found no traces that any mind had ever inhabited this body. There were no traces of any person; it was as if the mind previously occupying it had left, leaving no trace of what had been there before. I do not know of anything that could cause this."


	2. Guilty

When Equus had first regained consciousness, she had immediately been aware that she was lying on something soft. A mattress. A bed. Judging by the pattern of the beeping noise she heard, her heart rate, or someone else's was being monitored. She could not take the chance of alerting anyone that she was conscious until she knew who was with her, what they wanted, and most importantly, had a weapon in her hands.

Focusing carefully on regulating her breathing and heart rate, so as not to alert anyone that she was conscious, she studied the voices in the room. She heard one voice, and recognized it immediately. The Martian Manhunter. Fear gripped her heart, and she heard the voices stop talking.

Damn damn damn. That was a careless mistake. I knew there was the possibility Lex could make them work, I should have been prepared for that voice! Or any of their voices! I let it surprise me, and now they know I'm awake, I've lost the advantage, and I still don't have a weapon in my hand. Well, I think I can change that.

She felt a strong hand on her chest, gentle yet restraining. A calm voice, that she recognized immediately as Superman's said, "Its ok, we're not going to hurt you."

Of course you're not, I'll be the one doing the hurting.

With surprising speed, Equus reached up and grabbed the arm that was holding her down. She jerked with all her strength, and was surprised at her weakness.

No matter. As soon as I get my sword and knives, they won't have a chance in hell. I've been preparing for this day for a long time, and I'm not going to screw this up. Once I finish with them, I'll get back to Luthor. I know he'll be ever so happy to see me, especially once I tell him what I accomplished. It will be even sweeter, since all of them are here at once, I can make it a nice neat victory.

She felt the man instinctively pull back, which was what she was counting on. Using his own backwards momentum, she twisted her body so that she was vertical on the bed, jerking his arm with her. Curling her legs against her body, she lashed out with both and they landed square on his chest, sending him flying across the room, and slamming into the opposite wall.

Taking advantage of their stunned silence, she flipped herself backwards off the bed and lunged towards her sword and knives. Swinging her sword out of its sheath, she hefted it in front of her. She winced as her bad shoulder protested against the weight of the sword, and transferred it to her left hand.

It's a good thing I'm a lefty.

Reaching down to a hidden pocket in her thigh, she pulled out a short blade. An intricate design ran up and down both sword and knife, and the hilts of both were jeweled and decorated. Words ran up and down the sword, intertwined with the patterns. The sword had three black gems embedded in its hilt, and a clear one at the end. The clear one was not circular like the others; it was shaped like a running horse, as if its legs blended together and then fanned out, starting the hilt of the sword.

The knife had one green stone at its base, and its blade was mostly gray, but was tinted an eerie green color. The blade of the sword was indescribable. It was gray and gold and black and green and blue, all at the same time, depending on how the light caught it.

Batman had been deep in thought when he had realized that J'onn had stopped talking. J'onn was staring at the monitors, and telepathically told them all that he thought she was awake. Batman had walked over to her, and laid his hand lightly across her stomach. He did not want her to feel restrained, especially not after what she had been through, but he did not want to spring up in a panic. J'onn had said that she was still very weak, and that her cracked ribs would take at least a week to heal. Batman did not want her to injure herself further, nor did he want her to make herself sicker by starting to panic breath.

Panic breathing consisted of short, shallow breaths and was hard on the lungs and heart. Considering that he heart had already failed once in the last hour, he did not want to jeopardize her health.

I need her alive to question her. I need her breathing and conscious to get any useful information.

As much as Batman told himself that the only reason he was so concerned for her health was because she was a possible source of information, he still felt a nagging sense that she was important somehow. That she was more then she appeared. So that was how he found himself, a split second later, flying across the room and slamming into the opposite wall.

It had come out of nowhere, one minute she had tugged him down, the next he had slammed head first into the wall. He sat there, dazed for a moment, before slowly getting to his feet. He was not hurt, his reflexes had kicked in at the last minutes and he had been able to take the brunt of the force on his shoulder. What worried him most was that in her state, she should not have been able to bruise him, let alone almost give him a serious concussion.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he looked up at the girl standing across the room, holding a large sword in her good arm, and a small blade in her other, ready to launch herself at them as soon as she needed to.

Equus had not expected the shadow-man to get up so quickly. That blow was meant to knock out someone for a while. Studying him carefully, her eyes moved from his boots, up his caped figure, to the pointy ears topping his mask.

A bat. He's dressed like a bat. Wait. I've heard of him. Batman, that's what he calls himself. I looked him up, he's part of the Justice League, along with Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and…oh.

Batman had watched as the girl had sized him up, and he had signaled to the others to keep their distance. He had studied her as much as she studied him and was dismayed at what he saw. Her body was clothed in the same black suit. A black cape hung down her back, stopping just above her ankles. Knee high black boots and gloves covered her hands and feet. But that was not what made his angry, no, he was angry because he had fallen for one of the oldest villain tricks.

A black hood covered her head, and a sheer black scarf was tied around her eyes. He was completely sure that she could see out, and he could see in, but not enough to tell eye color. And he had fallen for it. It was a common trick: someone covers their eyes with something ordinary, stylish sunglasses only lightly tinted, a baseball hat, and covers their hair too. It makes a person feel like seeing all of them, and the scarf magnified the illusion: it was sheer and made it feel like she was not concealing anything. Yet, had he needed to describe her, the best he could do was "short, thin, and pale" which fit a lot of people. He doubted he could even identify her in a picture.

His hand had automatically tightened around his Batarang, and he was ready to spring into action if she so much as moved her blade. But something in her eyes changed quickly, and suddenly, as clearly as if a light bulb had popped on over her head. He loosened his grip, her gaze that had been filled with hate and distrust, was now filled with confusion, and the distrust, while still present, was definitely less.

"Oh! You're Batman?" The question was undoubtfully directed at him.

"Yes." He said cautiously, and as he did so he saw her relax a fraction.  
Her gaze swept over the rest of them, Wonder Women standing proud like the Princess she is, Superman looking at the girl with a mixture of pity and concern on his face, Flash looking like Christmas had come early with the sight of a hot teenage girl wielding a sword at his face. Only GL and J'onn's faces were unreadable, as stoical as ever.

"Superman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern?"

As she said each name her gaze landed on each of them, and they gave a barley perceivable nod of their heads, like children when attendance was being called. The room was tense, they had no idea who this girl was or what she was capable of, but the general thought was that she was too weak to harm them. Batman was not so sure, he had, after all, been on the wrong side of her blow. After each had nodded their head, she relaxed further.

"How did you find me?" She asked. Superman finally seemed to have found his voice and responded.

"Some of the meta villains holding you hostage robbed a back. They stole jewelry and we followed them. They led us right to you."

"No, that's not right. Lex would not have been that careless, especially not with me." She muttered this under her breath, apparently lost in thought.

Superman glanced at Batman, trying to get some idea of what to do, but Batman was for once as clueless as he was. Finally J'onn took control, and suggested, "Why do you not sit down? You were injured and injected with Copperhead's venom."

Superman flinched inwardly; he had not wanted to bring up anything that might remind her of what she had just endured. But he did not have to worry, the girl continued to ignore him. Suddenly, she jerked her head up, and fixed him with an intense stare.

"You said you followed men who robbed a back?" At Superman's nod, she continued. "Did you actually see the men?"

"No, there were two eye witnesses who described them."

"Just two?" She pressed, and again Superman nodded.

"And did you find the jewelry?" Another nod.

"How?"

"We received an anonymous tip that said where the jewelry was hidden. We went to the address, and it was all there."

The girl had been growing more and more animated during the conversation, but the last piece of information had tipped the scale. Her face turned completely red in anger, the sword came straight up, and she looked around the room wildly.

"Serenity!" She yelled. "I know you're here you ignorant, self-riotous btch! I told you to just leave me the hll alone! A told you I would handle things! You promised not to come back!"

Suddenly, a strong mind voice filled the room. "I could not leave you to suffer. You should have realized that my nature prevents me from doing so. I would not allow you to be tortured, not even for him."

The mind voice was strong and proud, and carried an air of experience. It was caring, and Batman thought he detected a hint of concern in the voice. It was easier to identify emotions in a mind voice then a normal voice because what ever emotion the person is feeling at the time are carried over, unless she specifically tried not to.

Following this statement, a brilliant flash of light shone next to the girl, and a horse materialized out of this air. It was a beautiful animal, completely black, even it's hooves. It was tall, bigger then any horse Batman had ever seen. The strangest part were the wings protruding from the horse's sides. They were long, about 15 feet from tip to tip. They were coated in black feathers that glinted in the light.

The horse shook its head, and brought its wings snug against its side where they seemed to meld into the animal's flank, black, invisible on black. The girl was shooting daggers at the horse with her eyes, and seemed just about to do the same thing with the actual dagger in her hand.

Superman saw the look of hate on her face, but instead of the hate she had worn earlier, when she had been about to kill Lex, it was tinged with annoyance. It was more the look one gives a parent when a child is told they have to be home by 9 o'clock.

Once again the mind voice spoke. "I see now that you are unharmed, and exactly where you should be. I am confident in your abilities to locate Lex Luthor once again at which time you may do as you please. But until then, please do try not to get yourself dismembered, beheaded, maimed, poisoned, suffocated or anything else that results in you not being able to keep your heart beating. It is most unpleasant for me, and if you die I will have failed my job in which case I will make sure you wish you were dead. Now I really must be going, you have disturbed a very important meeting with Zeus. Good night Justice League. Oh, and by the way: I did not promise not to save you, I merely promised not to come back and save you. Have a nice night." The horse concluded.

It spread its wings again, and started to flap them when the girl said, "What! No 'be careful'?"

"I gave up on 'be careful' about 5 minutes after I met you." The horse responded, once again using her mind voice. Then flapping her wings once, she hovered about a foot in the air and promptly disappeared.

The Leaguers, who had watched dumfounded throughout the whole intercourse, finally found their voice. The Flash was the first one to respond.

"I wonder why it needs wings if it just poofs everywhere?"

"She can't disappear and instantaneously reappear anywhere, and it would take too long for her to fly to Olympus from here. So she creates a rift in the universe, and basically enters another dimension in which time exists at a slower rate then this one. She can fly for hours in that dimension, arrive at her destination, and poof back to our dimension in her destination. But only a few seconds will have elapsed for us. Most locations are not that far away anyways, and it's not like she can get tired." The girl responded, still staring at the spot where the animal had stood.

"She?" "Olympus?" Both Flash and Wonder Woman said at the same time, the Flash concerned about anything female while Wonder Woman was interested in anything that could possibly relate to her home world.

"Yes, Serenity, the horse you just saw, she's a she. And Olympus is where she was created and lives." Seeing the black stares, she said with a sigh, "Maybe I should start from the beginning."

"I have been searching for Luthor for the past 4 years. Obviously he was in prison for part of the time, and after he was pardoned he was too much in the public eye for me to get my hands on him. And then with the Thanagar Invasion, I lost whatever trail I had of him. It took me six months to track his whereabouts to New York City. I should have realized he would return to his research after what happened with the Thanagarians. Anyways, I was out taking a midnight stroll in Washington Square Park when he grabbed me. Well not him exactly, he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. They knocked me out, and when I came to I was in the warehouse. I don't think they expected me to wake up so quickly, because no one was guarding me. Serenity materialized inside the warehouse. Although she couldn't directly interfere, she could still have freed me. I persuaded her not to because I needed Luthor. I made her promise to leave and not come back and rescue me. She kept her end of the deal for three days. Just when I had almost been able to escape and get Luthor, she decided I needed saving. She used her telepathy to persuade Grundy to steal the jewels, and showed him how to do it without being seen. She then projected the images of the meta villains into the minds of two men near the bank, and made sure Grundy left a trail returning to the warehouse. She knew you would follow the trail that would lead to where I was being held, and free me. She took the jewelry herself so that once I was safe she could return it to you. She's not allowed to directly interfere, but she can bend the rules a little without getting in trouble. I see your blank stares. I suppose I must now explain what Serenity is for this to make and sort of sense.

You see her origin is embedded in the long forgotten Greek myths. When the Fates saw the full extent of Medusa's power, they realized that they needed some way to balance out the evil in her. Since she was already born, they could not change her nature. They decreed that when she was slain, a being of pure goodness would spring from her fully formed, and that the creature would be a beacon of hope to all other girls and women who could one day become as evil as Medusa herself. So when Medusa was beheaded, the entity known to humans as Pegasus sprung from her body. Pegasus was not the animal's name that is a common misconception. Pegasus is the name of the animal's race, and even so the being that sprung from Medusa's body was not entirely a Pegasus. She was Serenity, the being that was just here. When that foolish man tried to use Serenity to rise to Olympus, Zeus struck him down but allowed the animal passage. Serenity was granted godhood, and she is the Goddess of the Horse, as well as the incarnation of serenity. She is a sort of icon for female warriors in Greek Mythology and spent most of her time bathing along side Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and of virginity. Her descendants are the mounts of the Amazons. She also mated with the first horse of earth, or the animal that would come to evolve into the horse, which is why they look so much like her. The main differences are their abilities. As a goddess, Serenity's power is almost infinite. She's a telepath, a shape shifter, and a telekinetic, amongst other things. Her descendants on Themiscara are also telepaths, but it is limited to amongst their own kind. The horses of this planet inherited her form except for the wings, and they come in all the different colors she herself takes, but they lack her other abilities because of their mortal sire. She is one of the only gods permitted on Earth, because her purpose makes it necessary for her to travel to and be part of the worlds of mortals. I first met her around 4 years ago, and since then she has come and gone. I did not realize that Luthor knew of her existence until he captured me. It makes sense for him to want to study such a powerful creature."

Following this revelation, only Wonder Woman did not look completely shocked.

"I have heard of Serenity from my mother, and although I had never met her, she is well known amongst the Amazons." Wonder Woman said slowly.

"Why were you searching for Luthor? And what research has he returned to?" Batman inquired.

Of course, upon finding out a goddess had appeared and disappeared into his Watchtower, the only thing he could think about was getting the whole story.

"It is a very long story, and very complicated. Now is not an appropriate time for it, but I can tell you need some sort of explanation. The most I can tell you is that he killed my mother, and for that he will die."

"So I see, he kills your mother, you kill him for revenge, and then what? You go to prison for murder? I've heard this before, and trust me when I say that killing him will not help. You're a fool if you think it will." Batman spoke to her, using his own personal experience.

He felt for her, he really did, but hearing her plan made him feel foolish. Had he ever really thought killing the man that murdered his parents would help? He hated that man, but killing him would have done nothing except landed him in jail. Instead, he had realized that he could avenge his parents by making sure no child ever lost their parents. Obviously he had not done such a good job. He braced himself waiting for the usual comeback of 'you don't know what it's like'. Instead, she looked at him, studying him intently and he felt like she knew about his parents, knew what he had almost done.

"There is more to it, but for now that explanation will have to be enough. Judge me however you like, it doesn't matter to me. I will kill him, and nothing you do will stop me."

Superman, having seen the sparks starting to fly, redirected the conversation.

"Well, for the time being we need you to stay up here at the Watchtower. Obviously the horse…Serenity would appear again if you were caught, and we cannot risk Lex getting his hands on anything that powerful. He can't get to you here, and I'll have one member of the League remain here at all times until he is caught. We have an extra room where you can stay."

"I will prepare the room for your occupation. I shall return momentarily. I do have a question though." J'onn said.

At the girl's nod, he continued. "While you were unconscious, I was unable to find any telepathic traces of you inside your mind. Do you know why?"

"Serenity taught me how to enable my mind to leave the confines of my body while unconscious, which leaves my body in a sort of coma. Even though I can protect my mind from telepathic invasion while conscious, a strong and persistent telepath could eventually break through the barrier. It is even easier to do while the person is unconscious. By leaving my body, I made sure that Mind Bender, the telepath, could not get any information from me while I was unconscious. I left my body after being bitten by Copperhead because the human body can withstand more and heal faster when it is not burdened by a mind. By inducing a coma, I slowed my heart rate which in turn slowed down the spread of Copperhead's venom." She responded.

"One last question?" J'onn asked.

"Yes?"

"What is your name?"

"You may call me Equus."

After J'onn left, a light started blinking on the computer console. Superman went over and inspected it.

"Massive earthquake in California. Flash, John, Wonder Woman, we need to go. Batman, are you coming with us?"

"No. You go ahead. I have a few more things I need to do up here. I'll tell J'onn where you went."

"Fine. Let's go."

Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern exited the room, and Batman watched them load into the Javelin and leave the watchtower. In truth, he had nothing up here he needed to do, but he still did not completely trust this girl.

A goddess of the horse? Right, more like a fancy light show.

But she was obviously valuable to Luthor, for whatever reason, so Batman accepted that they would now have a teen-age girl living with them.

It's a good thing I don't spend that much time in the Watchtower anyway. And if she starts playing loud music, or using the phone, she'll have hell to pay. I did not join the League to baby sit some ignorant self righteous high schooler.

Thinking about school, he motioned over to the girl and said, "You need to email all your friends, family, teachers, anyone who might be looking for you. I don't want you reported missing, because then Luthor will realize we have you up here. You can use this computer here."

Walking over across the room, leaving the girl to email her friends, he used another computer console to log onto his own username. He activated a program that would record all her activity on the computer and send it to his account. He wanted to be extra careful, especially after what happened with Hawkgirl.

Only a minute later the girl announced, "Done."

"I said all you friends, teachers, and family. Even those that you don't speak with often. Brag about how you're going to the Caribbean or something."

Batman knew he was being a little mean, but she couldn't help it. He was annoyed that he had to watch her.

"I just posted a bulletin on the class webpage that I'm away, and for my teachers to send class work to my email account." She responded.

"That won't be enough. Your friends could get suspicious since you didn't mention anything before. I don't want any trail leading the Justice League."

"Don't have any friends or family to report me missing. And it's college, so its not like kids show up everyday anyways. I just can't fall behind on the work, which is why I bothered at all." She said all this as if daring him to say something like 'I'm sorry' or 'I didn't know'. She seemed like the kind of girl who would kill for giving her pity.

"College?" he said skeptically. She looked like she was 16, not 19 or 20.

"According to NY state, I am 21 and in my second year of college at Harvard Medical School."

21 years old? She couldn't be older then 18.

And he had seen that she had posted in the Harvard Medical school board, but she still didn't look old enough to drive. Seeing his skepticism, she easily hacked into the secure records of NY State. Pulling up a file, he read it.

Gaia Seltamis, born January 1st 21 years ago. Current residence: dorm at Harvard Medical school. Had been attending Harvard for 2 years. Grew up in Kentucky, with straight A's throughout school. Born to Artemis Miller and Veive Seltamis. Both parents still resided in Kentucky.

"You said you mother was killed. It says right here she's alive, as is your father. If you are lying to me, I will find out." Batman said, making his voice as menacing as possible.

"The whole transcript, social security number, tax records, phone bills, cable bills, birth certificate, school records, everything, it's all fake. I used it to get into school. Artemis is a Greek goddess of the hunt, and Veive is the Greek god of revenge. Gaia is a goddess of the earth but Gaia Seltamis…is my real name." Equus responded, in a calm level voice.

Batman was surprised not only that she had been able to fake a whole new life, but that she had needed to.

"Where did you go to school before? And it's impossible to fake SAT scores, they go through processing and are graded and then sent out directly."

"I only went to school up until I was 8. And I didn't fake the SAT scores."

Batman was even more shocked by this. It was rare to find a child that had such little schooling, and even more surprising was that she had managed to get such a high grade on the SATs. He was not sure if he believed her, but he knew that he now had something to occupy his time: searching for every trace of Gaia Seltamis on record. But first, he needed to teach her something.

"It was a foolish thing to reveal your identity to someone you just met. For all you know, I could be Luthor hiding behind a mask."

"First of all, Luthor isn't looking for Gaia Seltamis, and I doubt he could recognize me if he walked into me. And second, I though it was only fair you know who I am."

At that moment, J'onn walked through the wall and stepped up beside Equus.

"You're room is ready. If you require anything, let me know. Follow me."

Turning to Batman before leaving, she carefully whispered in his ear, out of earshot of J'onn, "Good night Bruce Wayne."

Equus followed J'onn through the corridors into the small, plain room. A bed made up with crisp white linen sat in the middle of the room. A window peered out into space, and a large lamp sat on an end table beside the bed. It was sterile looking, and plain. Obviously the watchtower did not have its own interior designer. She had seen some of the Leaguer's rooms when she walked through the corridors, and she saw their obvious preferences and histories on their walls. Wonder Woman's wall had a Greek style dress hung on it, alone with a sword and shield. GL's wall had pictures of hawks, and he seemed to have strange fascination with the animal. Flash's wall was completely covered with pictures of female models, most from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. He even had a poster of Wonder Woman tucked away in a corner. When J'onn had led her into the room, he seemed lost for a moment, as if thinking upon something from the past. He quickly shook his head and ushered Equus into the room.

"I hope you will find yourself comfortable here. We were not expecting guests." J'onn said, in his emotionless voice. He walked out of the room, leaving Equus alone.

Equus walked to the far side of the room, and sat down. Staring out into space, she called out for Serenity with her mind.

Will he attack soon? I know he made them work, and I can only assume that he will attack to prevent the Justice League from interfering. Equus spoke to Serenity with her mind voice, and felt Serenity's presence. She heard Serenity's mind voice respond.

You are correct. He fears you have already informed the League of your past. Which, by the way, you should have. I gave you the information you required, and my assurances that you can trust them. You must learn to have faith in others, if you cannot have it in yourself.

I trust you, Serenity. And you know how long that took. I cannot begin to trust others without them proving themselves. You of all people should understand.

I do. As we speak, Lex Luthor arranges for an attack on Metropolis, hoping it will draw only Superman. If you can reach him and convince those he is with now to respond with him, you will have a chance. He has a back-up force of androids; they will need to be dealt with. I must leave, but hurry. Superman just received the distress call from Metropolis.

Thank you Serenity.

Getting up and walking out of the room, Equus headed straight for the main command center, where Batman was working monitor duty. He looked up form the console, surprised to see her there. Before he could speak, she started to talk.

"Superman just called you saying that he is responding to a distress call from Metropolis. The message was vague, but Superman does not think it is a big deal. He has just headed off on his own, and the rest are headed back here in the Javelin. Am I right?"

Batman regarded her suspiciously, before reluctantly nodding.

"Send the rest of the Justice League down to Metropolis. Take the shuttle, and go down with J'onn. You will encounter three meta-villains. One has powers similar to Superman, another with powers similar to J'onn's, and the last with powers similar to Flash's. Accompanying them will be several dozen automated fighter androids, probably humanoid in design. If you want Superman to live, you will do exactly as I said." Equus studied Batman's reaction, trying to gauge whether or not he would believe her.

"How do you know this? How do you know who I am?" Batman fired the questions at her, rapidly and without hesitation.

"If chose not to listen right now, I will expose your identity to the entire world. I have office logs that show you leaving work an hour before Batman was first spotted every evening for the past 2 months. When you go on vacation, Batman didn't show up. It might not convince everyone, but it will convince enough people to endanger anyone you are associated with and prevent you from being both Batman and Bruce Wayne."

Batman narrowed his eyes, and weighed his options. He did not like being blackmailed, but he recognized that he had nothing to lose. He would inform the others that he had reason to believe the threat was bigger then he had thought, and would head down there with J'onn and the girl. If it turned out to be nothing, he would say his informant must have been wrong, and have would have a quiet discussion with Equus. If it turned out to be right, and they all survived, he would be having a public interrogation with Equus and grill her for any information she might have. Either way, Batman needed to talk with her. Making up his mind, Batman contacted Dianna, Flash, and GL and sent them to Metropolis. He used the intercom, and had J'onn and the girl meet him at the shuttle.

Batman ignored J'onn's questioning look, instead allowing J'onn to gain the information from his mind. He felt J'onn hesitation at trusting the girl, but also knew the J'onn realized he did not have a choice. Batman watched the girl out of the corner of his eye, and was interested to see how eager she looked. She looked excited, eager, yet anxious and nervous. These emotions would not be uncommon if she thought she was going into danger, but Batman was surprised to see that her face did not show even a trace of fear.

Equus was not scared. What was there to be scared of? Three super-powered, mindless killers? She had been scared of them for years, and had gotten over that after her mother's murder. An army of androids? She could take care of them. Someone dying? She would try and prevent any deaths she could, and she would feel bad if anyone died, but that was not her fault. She had carefully removed herself from any and all ties to this world, making sure she could never be hurt that way again. The one thing she might possibly fear was dying before she killed Luthor, but killing him necessitated risking her life, so she had overcome that fear the day she had escaped.

Equus was still nervous of what lay in store, and she checked and rechecked all her knives. She made sure that the belt that secured them to her torso was tight, that all eighteen knives were sharp and secured in. She checked the secret pockets that were hidden inside her suit, making sure all the hidden knives occupying the pockets were secured and in place. It was too easy for one to stab her by accident if it was lose, and that could be disastrous. She made sure that the specialized knives she knew she would need were easily accessible. She unsheathed her sword, looked at it, and then resheathed it. She secured her sword and sheath over her shoulder, so it lay diagonally across her back. She needed it out of the way of her front so that she could more easily run and jump. Satisfied that all was in place, she mentally rehearsed what would most likely happen.


	3. or None of the Above?

Batman expertly maneuvered the shuttle down into the empty park in the middle of Metropolis. All three of them got out, and looked around. They spotted the trouble almost immediately, Superman and a masked meta-human were falling through the sky. The meta human wore all black, including a mask. He was big and muscular, and obviously capable of flight. He and Superman were wrestling each other to the ground, and finally Superman managed to position the meta below him, so when they hit the ground the meta took the impact. All three of them rushed over to the landing site, and Batman took in what he saw. Flash was an indistinct red blur, chasing another black blur. The black blur tripped, and Batman barely had the time to realize that the blur was another masked meta, with super speed, before he heard a loud crash. He turned, and saw J'onn take flight on his side. In front of him, GL was trying to use his ring to stop a giant snake from strangling Dianna. GL managed to get the snake to free her, and as Dianna went to grab the snake to throw it, it morphed into the shape of another man, masked in black. It flew up, and changed again into the snake and tried to encircle both GL and Dianna. J'onn also morphed into a snake, and the two battled each other. Dianna flew other to where the meta fighting Superman had crashed. Both Superman and the meat were up, and Dianna tried to help Superman fight him. GL had flown over to where the two blurs were chasing each other, and he tried to contain the black one. He came close once, and kept trying while Flash tried tog et close enough to land a punch.

Batman heard a loud blast behind him, back were the shuttle was landed.

The girl! She's still over there. I thought she had followed us.

Batman immediately took off towards her, seeing that there was not much he could do against the other metas. Coming into the clearing where the shuttle was landed, he saw a swarm of androids in a circle around the girl. Several unmoving androids lay around his feet, knives in their circuits disabling them. The girl herself had her sword out, and saw slashing, punching and kicking in a flurry of movement. The androids were focused in on her, using mechanical arms to try and disable her, as well as lasers shot from their eyes. She ducked the lasers, most of which then went on to hit and disable another android located behind her. A few she deflected with her sword. He rushed forward to help her, but she shook her head.

"The meta fighting Superman, use kryptonite on it. It will work, I promise."

Batman hesitated for a second, but seeing that she was handling herself, he headed back. Taking the chunk of kryptonite out of his belt, he yelled to Superman.

"Get back." He demanded. When Superman ignored him, he shouted louder, "NOW!" Superman hesitated, but reluctantly dropped down next to Batman. Batman motioned Superman away, pointing towards J'onn. Assuming that J'onn needed his help, he flew off. Batman held the kryptonite in the air, walking towards the meta-villain. The meta slowing fell to the ground, then sunk to his knees. Wonder Woman quickly grabbed him, and pinned him to the ground. Batman handed Dianna the chunk of rock, and instructed her to stay close to him. Batman went over to where the others were fighting, and saw that with Superman's help, J'onn his effectively disabled the shape shifter, who was now unconscious. GL had the black super speed meta encased in a green forced field, and vacuumed the air out. Breathing hard, the meta needed oxygen and passed out in a few seconds. Superman went over and grabbed him. Batman turned around, to see another hoard of androids pouring out of the woods. At first Batman thought the girl had been hurt or killed, but then he saw her running out. Vaulting over the crowd of androids, she stood in front of them. Wonder Woman started to move to fight them, but Batman held up his hand, he wanted to see her the girl fight.

Equus had not followed the other two towards Superman when he had first fell, she had known the androids would try and delay her form helping. Sure enough, a few seconds later two dozen had attacked her out of the woods. Easily ducking their blasts of lasers, as well as their other clumsy attacks, she started to fight. She had killed off a few with knives, but the rest had approached too close for knives to be effective. Drawing her sword, she combined her swordsmanship skills with her hand-to-hand combat skills. Slashing, stabbing, punching, kicking, and ducking, she moved in a blur, never stopping or hesitating. She had seen Batman come to help, but had waved him off, instructing him on how to defeat at least one of the metas. She kept fighting, and noticed a few minutes later that they had started to peel off, heading towards the area where the rest were engaged.

They must automatically get recalled to help if the other three starts losing.

She had followed the last half-dozen of the androids towards where the others were fighting. Seeing that three opponents disabled, she launched herself in front of the androids. She easily ducked the first three laser blasts, then charged forward. She killed two with a long sweep of her sword. Another two fell to her round house kick, and a swift stab caught another. The last one stood in front of her, and she walked up to it, stopping an inch from its face. It pointlessly struck out at her, and she dodged the attack. Sticking her knife through its torso, she pulled the knife upwards, and the android let out a mechanical squeal. Withdrawing her sword, and watched the android fall to the ground. Suddenly, she whirled around, and darted past the Leaguers. She stood stock still, watching the road as a single car pulled away. She was trembling, her body shaking visibly.

Superman had never seen anyone fight like, not even Batman. Batman hid in the shadows, struck in just the right places, making quick clean kills. He was silent and deadly, powerful and quick. He used non-lethal force, non-lethal weapons, and precise hits. Equus struck much more quickly then Batman, though with a lot less power. Her blows were meant to kill, and she combined her sword and martial arts skills with such practiced precision that Superman nervously wondered how many people she had ever killed.

Batman does not kill. Evening when fighting mechanical opponents, he is so used to using non-lethal force that he does it automatically. But her, she enjoyed that. She wanted to kill them. With the last android, she was right in its face, if it had one, and she watched it fall the ground. It scared me, the say she's so comfortable with this.

Superman had been confused when he saw her take off, but she realized she must have wanted to go after the car.

"I'll get it." He volunteered, and stared to fly up.

"Don't. It doesn't matter, not now." She responded, her voice shaking with anger.

Equus was livid. She should have known that she would have spied watching her, seeing how she did. She pushed her anger away, and stalked towards the nearest black-clad meta. Going over the shape shifting meta-villain, who was unconscious on the ground, she pulled out a knife. Before anyone could stop her, she stuck it into the back of its neck. Pushing it in a few inches she twisted the knife and watched as the meta's limbs convulsed and then went still. She pulled the knife out and walked silently over to the villain encased the green field. She stared up at GL.

"Let him out. I'll deal with him." She said, her voice a low growl.

"What did you do to him?" Superman asked. He was leaning over the still meta, feeling for a pulse.

"I terminated him. I guess you could say killed him."

Superman jerked his head up in shock, and desperately felt for a pulse on the meta. Finding none, his despair turned top anger. He had let her kill a man in front of him, he had stood by and watched it happen. That was just as bad as doing it himself.

Wonder Woman had never killed before. At least not in the way that the others considered killing. She had slain mortal bodies as a defender of her home island, but the immortal minds would then travel to Hades where they would be punished for their crimes. She knew that on earth, once a person was dead they were gone, or at least that was what some people thought. Others believed that they went to a heaven, or another life. Although she had never taken a human life, she had seen the grief in the eyes of those who had lost loved ones. All she needed to do was stare at the black figure with the pointy ears standing next to her to realized how much a lived one's death could affect someone. Wonder Woman understood why Kal valued life so much, after what had happened to his home planet. She understood his distress at the thought of someone dying, of his letting it happen. This man was someone's son, maybe a husband, a father, a brother. And no matter what he did, there was still the chance that someone would mourn his loss, which is why they never killed.

Batman was waging a war inside himself. She had killed a man, a person. This could be someone's father, a child could now be without a father, grow up without a father, live without a father. That was unacceptable to Batman, this is why he had become Batman: to prevent another little boy from losing his father. And he had stood by while it happened.

Flash was just as startled by the sudden murder of the meta as the rest. As the youngest on the team, he sometimes felt that he valued life more then the others, simply because he was more exposed to the young college and high school kids in his daily life. He saw their happiness, their hopes and their dreams. He saw those that were bullied, and those that bullied, and could not help but think that some day, that kid might be dressed up a costume trying to kill me. He recognized that every bad guy they fought, no matter how horrible or evil or sadistic, had a mother and father. And it did not matter if they were alive or dead, but knowing that someone, at some point, would have missed him made him soften his punches just a little. It made him use a little less force and a little more talking, reasoning. It also the reason he joked around so much. They all knew that they could respond to a distress call one day, and it could be their last. They all risked their lives, and of you were going to die, well then you might as well die laughing.

Flash looked around the crowd of angry, sad, shocked and surprised faces. His gazed locked onto that of Equus'. It showed no remorse, no sadness, in fact it showed satisfaction.

At that moment Equus realized that she had made a mistake. She knew that once she told them the whole story they would realize killing all three would be necessary, but for now they thought she was a murderer.

They are right in thinking that, but I would have liked them to at least think that knowing who I have really killed and not get all upset over some mindless experiment.

Equus sighed, and realized she needed to tell them the truth, the whole truth. She started to speak.

"Those three metas that attacked you, they're clones. Advanced aged, genetically engineered to be almost completely brain dead, they're clones. They carry out simple commands and cannot think for themselves. They know of nothing other then fighting and killing. They were created in a lab, and have no connections to anyone other then the man that made them. They don't understand death, and they can't read or write, they don't even know their names. They don't even have names!"

Clones? Batman thought to himself. Of...of course! That's why the kryptonite worked on him, that's how she knew it would. And the others...but who...Luthor. He's the only one with the recourses and technology to pull this off. Suddenly something else occurred to him, and he turned to Equus.

"Why did the knife kill him?" Batman knew that eventually the meta would have bled out from the knife the wound and died, but that would take a few minutes. If she had cut the spinal cord he would have suffocated, but still would take at least a minute, and none of those reasons would cause the convulsions.

"The metas are fighting machines. As with any dangerous machine, it's a good idea to make sure you have an emergency off switch. Each of the metas has a shunt of the chemical used in lethal injections at the base of their brains. You stick a knife in it, it leaks into their blood stream. They convulse and then they die, swiftly and painlessly."

Superman was not convinced of all of this. He felt that there was a whole story behind this, and he needed to hear it. Speaking to everyone, he took control of the situation.

"There is obviously more to this then you're saying. We need to hear the rest, and this is not the place to do it. We'll turn the other two over to the police, and let them handle it. I'll inform them of their powers. and they will be able to rig something to contain them. After that, we will all head back to the Watchtower, and you will tell us the whole thing."

"We should go to my place, instead. It's closer." Batman interrupted.

When Superman looked at him, surprised, Batman just muttered, "She knows who I am. Obviously she must know where I live. And I have a better database on my computer then at the Watchtower."

Equus spoke up, "I know who all of you are. I had Serenity gather this information for me when I awoke. I needed to know if you could be trusted. I'm trusting you, so you'll just have to trust me."

The Leaguers looked slightly disturbed by this, most so Superman, but he did understand. They all went back to the Javelin except Batman. He first entered the shuttle and set the autopilot to head back to the Watchtower. He then followed the rest to the Javelin and set the co-ordinates for the Batcave. He guided the Javelin through the small entrance he used for his own plane, and set it down gently. They all exited, and Batman led them over to the computer. Alfred immediately appeared, providing chairs for everyone. They all sat down near the computer, and looked expectantly at Equus. Taking a deep breath, she started to tell her story.


	4. Her Story: Part 1

**Warning: This is sad, there's no other way to put it. Children die. It's not very gruesome, but it is depressing. If you still want to read it, I suggest picturing Batman in a pink dress once you're done.**

Author's Notes: Equus's story was paticularly hard to create. I needed a story of unimaginable suffering and horror, and I think I got it. I love delving into psycology, and Equus's psyche fascinated me inmensely. When I first wrote it, I thought it was over the top and not very realistic. I was reassured when I saw some of the newer JL episodes, as well as rewatched a few older ones. In paticular, there are some definite similarities to plots in the JL universe. Just know that when I wrote this I had only seen season one, I did not copy any of the plots from later seasons. You'll understand what I'm talking about more in the next chapter. Another quick thing I want to mention is that I am by no means trying to "out do" the sob-stories of Superman, Batman, and J'onn. I beleive that although experiences do have a profound effect on people, their effect is molded by the individual. Keep this in mind as you uncover more about her, and ask youself how you think you would have turned out.

Gabby- thanks so much for the reveiw! I'm so excited, I finally got one! If people like Equus as a charatcer, I am prepared to write another story with her. I also might write a House, MD fanfic. Possibly a crossover with Equus. Or maybe not. Who knows!

"My father died when I was little, after he and my mother got divorced. My mother was a writer. She was successful enough to provide for us in between books, but never got a huge break. We lived in a small apartment in New York City, and sometimes money got tight, but never tight enough that she needed to get a day job.

One day when I was eight, we were walking through Washington Square Park. My mother loved the trees; she said they reminded her of when she was growing up on her parents' horse farm. Every evening before it got dark, we used to walk through the park and she would tell me her new story ideas. One night when I was eight, I left a toy on one of the benches. We went back to get it, but couldn't find it. Finally we started to walk home. It was already dark. Five men came out of nowhere with guns. They hit us in the head, and knocked us out.

When I came to, I was in a large room with about 50 other children around my age. A large man in a black suit came in and said that our parents were alive. He told us that if we did exactly as he said, neither our parents nor us would be hurt. The man told all the boys to leave, and led them down a hall. A woman came in and divided us into groups of five. Each group was led into a different room and locked in. The room I was in was large and plain. It had five beds lined up against the wall. The walls were white, and the beds were white. Off on the side was a small bathroom with a toilet and a sink. We were scared; we had no idea what was happening. Somehow we managed to sleep.

The next day all the girls and boys were led outside. There was a large obstacle course, with things to jump over, climb up, climb under, and run through. One girl started to run towards the fence and climbed up it, trying to escape. It was an electric fence. I still remember the smell of her charred flesh and burnt hair. Her name was Sara. She died from the electrocution almost immediately, and her mother was brought out and shot in front of us the next moment. She was the girl I had fallen asleep next to the night before. She wanted to be a singer, like her mother. She had a dog named "Spice Girls" even though it was a boy.

The man who had led us out told us that if we did not run through the obstacle course fast enough, our parents would be hurt or killed, as would we. We all ran over the obstacle course. There were two kids who could not finish it. One had an asthma attack halfway through and the other had epilepsy. She had a seizure while doing it. They were shot, as were there parents. There were 47 of us left.

After the obstacle course, we were divided back into our groups. Each group was led to the medical wing of the large building, and given an exam. Three of the boys and one of the girls had chronic illnesses, such as the HIV virus. They were all killed, as were there parents. 43 of us were left. I learned later on that all of the children held there been kidnapped in the same way as I had. All of them were being raised by single parents, who had also been kidnapped. The threat of injury to our parents was used to motivate us.

After that, we were brought back into our rooms. Four plates and a pitcher of water were on the floor. We ate and drank and slept. The next day we were taken group by group to a room with mats on the floor and walls. A man stood in the center and said to do as he said. He taught us how to throw a punch.

For the next year, we went every day to the room. We were taught every fighting technique they could find. We were taught by experts, how to kick, punch, duck, roll, and fall. If you were injured, you got the day off until you were healed. Anyone who sustained permanent injures was killed with his or her parents. That happened to three more. One cracked a kneecap, the other broke her back, and the last completely tore his rotator cuff. Six more kids sustained debilitating or life threatening illnesses. They were killed too. There were 39 left. The girl who broke her back had been in the room with me. Her name was Tianna. I always told her how pretty her name was. She wanted to win a beauty pageant. She said that she had practiced her beauty queen wave for 2 years. She was chubby, had a cleft lip, a bad lisp, a big nose and frizzy hair. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, and had the best imagination. She would tell us stories every night. She never let anyone go to sleep crying. I saw her corpse being dragged down the hall, covered in blood. I was nine, and it was my birthday.

At the end of the first year, were pitted against each other in one on one battles. Lasting one standing wins. It was girls vs. girls and boys vs. boys. The winning girl and the winning boy then fought each other. I was the winning girl. The winning boy was a lot taller and heavier then I. He was a cruel boy, and had been moved to different rooms because he kept beating up whomever he was with. He was a lot stronger then I was, but he preferred to use brute force. I was faster, and I used as much tact as any 9 year old could. I dodged the first fifteen minutes, and once he was tired I attacked. He got one lucky swing in, and bashed my skull. He fell to the ground a split second before me, so I won. He had whiplash and a couple broken ribs. I had a serious concussion, three broken ribs, one of which punctured a lung. It took the doctors a day to realize I was bleeding internally, they thought I was faking sickness. One of the other kids had started bleeding internally from wounds they got during their fight, he was shot. I think the only reason they operated and saved me was because they saw I could be a valuable fighter. Two others died from wounds they got in their fight. The six fighters who did the worst were killed with their parents. There were 30 of us left.

The next six months we were trained even harder. We started learning archery, fencing, and swordsmanship. I had been there two years. Slowly we were permitted more things such as books, music, a television. At the end of that year we were in peak physical condition. We had been trained in almost every martial art known to man, and had learned how to use just as many weapons. It was then that the purpose of all of it was revealed.


	5. Her Story: Part 2

****

Warning: Same as before. This is sad.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reveiwed! I'm so happy that I reached 5 reveiws (no laughing, I seriously am thrilled.)

Trickster91: I get the same magazine! I also am completley horse obessed. Its actually sort of sad. I have a bracelet with my horse's name on it, his name is Austin...my friends all thought it was my boyfriend's name. Right now I am only going to have Superman, Batman, Flash, GL, Wonder Woman, and J'onn. But if I make another story with her, I will probably have it centered around the JLU universe. If I do, I will include Vigilante. I think he's awesome too.

oneredneckgoddess: Thanks a lot! I agree with what you said, but I think that part of the promblem is that when you go through that much greif and horrow, a part of you dies with it. It's ironic how you can die, even as you survive.

balletangel19: Thank you so much for your continued support! One of things I wanted to do when I decided to create an original character was make sure that I kept in tune with the other League members. I want to toggle between her perspective and theirs. I don't want this to be an Equus fanfic with League members, I want it to be a JL fanfic with Equus. Does that make any sense?

the. dead. addict.: Hmm...I think I see what you mean about Equus being slightly Mary Sue. I don't feel shes that perfect or idealized (I'm using wikipedia's definition of a Mary Sue) but the story does seem to center around her. Any suggestions on what to do in future chapters to avoid making her a Mary Sue?

At that time, although we did not know it, Superman had just foiled another of Luthor's plans. Luthor had managed to escape, but his encounter with you left him shattered, and persuaded him to push up the time schedule. Three clones, made with Superman's DNA were grown in a lab on the premise. They were artificially aged to around 10 years old. Luthor had engineered the clones to slowly access more and more of their power as they aged, so as not to overwhelm the clones. When we first introduced to them, they were approximately 10 years old, and had super strength and super speed, around one-half of your full strength and speed, Superman. The clones were mindless, and could only be taught repeated behaviors. They knew commands such as 'eat' 'sleep' 'drink' and 'kill'. They were shown pictures, told to 'kill' and then would seek out the one in the picture, and fight them until they no longer moved.

We were pitted in one-on-one fights against the clones. Luthor realized that he would be unable to teach the clones fighting techniques, because if she made them intelligent enough to learn, they could learn to rebel. So instead he trained the opposing fighters, and gradually as the clones fought us they instinctively grew accustomed to fighting us. Although it was not conscious, their muscles remembered how to evade our blows, and how to penetrate our defenses. This was one of the advantages of using live opponents as opposed to a simulated opponent. The other advantage was that he was better able to see the damage done by the clones. He wanted the satisfaction of seeing blood spilt, bones broken, limbs crushed.

Because there were three of them and thirty of us, each of us only fought every ten days. Three separate fights went on every day, so that each clone fought one every day. Although they were often injured, as they were stronger and faster but untrained, they healed quick enough to fight the next day. It was rare for any of the clones to be laid up for more then a day. When one us was injured, we had ten days to recover. That all the time we were given, any person with an injury that was not at least partially healed in that time period was slaughtered with their parent. There were exceptions made for the better fighters, as long as we would fully heal in a month or two.

There were only three deaths in the first three months, and all of them were in the final month. It took the clones three months to be able to completely control their current powers. At the end of those three months they were artificially aged three years. They gained access to full strength and almost full speed. They also had half-powered laser vision as well as full strength x-ray vision and hearing. It took the clones another three months to learn to control those powers. Then they were once again aged, this time seven years. They were around 20 years old, and as powerful as you are now, Superman. After one week at full power, they started behaving oddly. They fought, but were slower and weaker; they seemed disoriented and would pass out at random intervals. Luthor realized that the process he used to age them also destroyed their bodies. Once they reached full power, their cells all started to age rapidly at different speeds. They experienced random organ failure, and all died a week later.

It took a little under a year to recreate the clones. During the lull, we trained and recovered. We were divided. Most of us wanted the clones to work because as long as we could fight, we were kept alive. A few of us just wanted to. There were two suicides during that year. I think that for all the horror I saw, one of the worst was watching as an eleven year old girl slit her own throat, knowing that her mother would die because of her.

Katherine was one of my roommates. She was the youngest, and the most innocent. She somehow managed to always find a way to laugh. Her laughter was like a breath of fresh air in hell. It was light, and bubbly. She would laugh when she was hurting, when she was sad, while she was crying. She would laugh because she knew we needed to here her laugh, that we needed to know there could be some sort of light even in the darkest places. Katie had black hair, and dark eyes. Her skin was the color of midnight, a dark, dark color that seemed to absorb all light and then bounce it out when she laughed. Her lips were bee-stung puffy, and her nose was bumpy from where she had broken it falling from a tree. She was able to read people amazingly. She knew just what to say or do, and knew when to do nothing. I don't know why she finally broke, but I remember when she came back to our room after training. The other two girls who we shared a room with were still training, so it was just us. Katie knew that I had snuck a small knife into the room. It wasn't good for much, mostly it was just to give us false hope that maybe we could somehow use it to get out. I don't know what happened that day while she was training, and I probably never will. But the first thing she said to me when she walked in was 'I want to die'. That was it; she just sat down, said it, and stared into space for ten minutes. Then she turned to me and asked me to help. 'Kill me. Kill me now. Please.' At first I was so stunned I just looked at her, in shock. I told her I couldn't, that we needed her. She said that I was being selfish, and I realized I was. She said she didn't care anymore, that once she was dead her mother could die in peace. I told her that I wouldn't do it, but that I would help her.

I walked over, got the knife from where it was hidden, and I put it in her hand. She put it up to her neck, but her hand kept wavering. She begged me to help her, and I did. I placed my hand on top of hers, and steadied the blade. Together we sliced across skin, across muscle, into bone. Sweat, tears, blood, hair, all mingled together. Hers and mine, dark blood on dark skin, salty tears falling freely down a light cheek. Tears dropping into blood, mixing together, becoming one. Sadness and pain, forever interlocked, always ignored but never forgotten. Together we cried to her death.

When the guard saw what had happened, he immediately reported it to Luthor. Luthor realized that he needed to act to prevent any more assisted suicides. He decided that anyone caught helping another person die would also have to kill their parent. He gave me a knife, a sharp one. He led out Katie's mother, and told me to kill her, to stab her. Said that if I didn't I would die, my mother would die. I wasn't going to, but Katie's mother begged me. She said she wanted to be with her daughter, that she was ready to die. She said that she could think of no better way to die then by the hand that helped her daughter find peace. I told her to close to her eyes, and with one quick stroke I ended her life.

Time went by, days, weeks, months. I've heard that with sensory deprivation one of the first things you lose is a sense of time. It's the same way with emotional deprivation. You become so used to it all that you live in one emotionless state. One of the ways people can keep track of days and weeks is through emotions, you remember if were sad yesterday, or you were happy last week better then you remember what you ate or what you did. Without emotion, without variety, everything becomes one big blur.

** Psst...Reveiws make me update faster. **


	6. Her Story: Part 3

**A/N: Sadness...tissues might be a good idea. This is the final part of Her Story (not the whole fanfic, just the part that Equus is narrarating, telling of past), so after this we get back to the present.**

Stealthyninja: Thanks! I'm trying to update as quick as possible, but its crazy because I have finals for school this week.

the. dead. addict.: Don't worry about it, my mom is always interrupting my computer time also. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll see what I put in as a weakness, but I think that as you see more of her character you'll realize she isn't at all perfect. Don't worry, she has got issues.

balletangel19: Thanks again! I needed some sort of horrible experience for this character, something that very few woudl survive. I just hope its not too over the top.

AnimeOtakuBara: Thanks! I'm updating asap.

WiccanWitch14: yummy...chocolate chip! Urhm...was the cookie for her or me? Oops...there goes the balloon. Uh-oh...why did I have to make my character so good with knives? -runs away- Anyways, on a slightly more serious note; the Justice League can't investigate every case of a missing child or parent. And many times when a child and single parent go missing, with no signs of forced entry into their house, police assume that they are trying to escape a bitter ex, debt., custody battle, ect. Since only single parents and their child were taken, that situation applies to almost all of them. Does that make any sense?

Anyways, the scientists behind the project were able to engineer new clones. This time though, instead of three Superman clones, they made one Superman, one Flash, and one Martian Manhunter clone. The ignored Wonder Woman because he powers were similar to Superman's and because part of her strengths lie in her armor, which was something they could not replicate. They ignored Hawkgirl for the same reason. The Green Lantern's power resides in his ring and his ability to wield it; the ring was another project they could not manufacture. And a Batman clone would have been useless as well because his strengths were centered around intelligence, training, and weaponry.

The routine was the same as before: one-on-one fights, human child vs. a clone. We rotated through the different clones, but the fights always ended the same way. This time though, Luthor tried aging the clones slower. He thought that if he gave them a full year between advance-aging them, it would prevent the cellular decay.

We fought for a year, all of us that were left. There were deaths, though not as many as you would expect. Luthor had been experimenting with weapons that are effectual against metas. Kryptonite-coated knives, electrically charged knives, knives that increase the gravitational pull in a localized field; all of them were specifically designed to take advantage of your weaknesses. What better way to see if they work then by giving them to us?

Arming the prey doesn't prevent injury; it just inflicts it on a more widespread scale. We fought back, so did they. You couldn't win, but you could fight well enough for the fight to be ended early. Then you could go to back to your lovely white room, and sit and read for the next few days. I was actually lucky. Some of the girls' roommates had all died, they would be on their own for days at a time. I had one roommate at the time, I think that's the only reason I didn't go insane. Its interesting really, all that time I though that I desperately needed people. Just any human to keep me grounded. Most people feel that way, that's why society puts so much pressure on finding that perfect someone. Honestly, it's all a load of crap. You can be perfectly happy all on your own. No one needs anyone, it's if you want someone. Humans are solitary animals. True there is strength in numbers, but if you can kill the deer by yourself, well then there is more meat for you.

After the first year they clones were advanced aged. We fought, we lost. We fought some more, we kept losing. In the first half of the second year there were more deaths then the previous year. By the second half there were only five of us left. Everyone else had died. Gone. Lives, dreams, families, all destroyed.

My last roommate died in the third week of the second half of the second year of the new clones. She was an amazing fighter, so even though she required surgery, they did it. She had an infarction in her leg. A blood clot in her leg. Her leg had started to ache a few days before, and one of the doctors gave her ice. It didn't get better, but the doctors couldn't find anything wrong so they assumed she was faking. When she collapsed, pale, hot, and sweaty, they took a closer look. They found the clot. There were three treatment options: amputate the leg, pull out the clot, or remove the damaged muscle. The first and last were ignored, with only one leg she would useless and there was so much damage that removing it would leave her crippled and unable to fight. So they removed the clot. The toxins would rush into her system and hopefully be flushed out. If that happened, she would likely regain full use of her leg and if not...either the toxins would kill her or the pain would. They couldn't give her any pain meds with all the toxins in her system, so they threw her back into the room with me after the surgery. For three days and three nights she was in constant agony. She writhed and screamed and cried. When the pain was the worst she yelled and cursed at me, angry that I refused to kill her, refused to end it all. The human body is a fragile machine. It takes less then a pound of pressure to cut human flesh. The body can only withstand so much pain. After a while, it starts to shut down. Finally on the third night she was having trouble breathing, but the pain was gone. She slept that night, we both did, for the first time in three nights. I lay there with my head in her lap, feeling her shaking under me. Feeling her hot sweat, and moist breath surround me, suffocate me. I could do nothing. She knew she was dying, and I knew it, and I could do nothing. She died that night. I don't know whether he body just could not handle the pain, or the toxins killed her. But her body shut down. It was sudden. She had been having trouble breathing, her lungs had been dying. But then suddenly while she asleep her heart just stopped. I felt the harsh pounding of her heart as I held her. Then suddenly everything just stopped. The corner of her mouth quirked up into a small smile and she just slipped away. Gone. In that instant. Just...gone.

At the end of the second year of the new clones, Luthor decided to age them only slightly. So we fought them for three months, and they showed no signs of organ failure. At the end of those three months again he aged them slightly. No cellular decay. So again, another three months, another small step forward for the clones. At the end of those three months, he advanced aged them. They were at full strength. At the height of their physical abilities, strength, speed, all at their peak. By that time I had been in that place for a little under six years.

I don't know exactly when Luthor realized that the clones were starting a break down. I don't know if it was sudden or progressive. But after one or two fights with the advanced age clones, Luthor seemed different. I knew Luthor to be a cold, calculating man. He was highly intelligent, and very methodical. But suddenly he seemed to become irrational and impulsive. I started fighting everyday. This was different because we usually rotated between fighters, so that all of us had a chance to recover. When I asked why, he said it was because they were all dead. I couldn't believe it. All of them, dead, gone. 49 children and 49 parents all slaughtered for one man's endless crusade against goodness. That day, when I was led into the room where we were supposed to fight, I couldn't. I just stood there, I couldn't bring myself to fight.

Luthor got angry. He became completely irrational. Finally he brought out my mother, and slit her throat. One swift swoop of a sharp metal blade. Spurting blood, hot, and sticky, all over the blade. And that was it. Another life gone, in what? A second, a minute, a lifetime? It took a minute to kill her, a second for her to die, and it will take a lifetime for her to be forgotten. When she died, finally released from the living hell, I knew that it was all over. The only reason I had kept fighting was for the small chance she would live, that we could possibly escape. But then...nothing. I was led back to my room. Everything was a mess, Luthor looked like he was falling apart and the guards were careless.

When one of the guards came in the next morning, I still had all my weapons. I killed him and escaped. I went straight for the security center, where they kept all their most sensitive information. I uploaded all the data for the project onto disks, and then burned the entire complex down. My escape is still somewhat of a blur to me, I don't remember how I managed to do it, only that I did.

I ran away, as fast I could, as hard as I could, I just ran. I don't know how long I ran for, or even where I was. I just remember finally collapsing against a tree. That night was the first night Serenity appeared to me. She saved me from myself, told me where to go to get a job, a life.

She used her telepathic abilities to coerce an owner of a local barn into hiring me as a groom. I taught myself everything I could. I made myself a life, a history. I took the SATs and got into college, and then med school. I lived the life of a privileged teenager, but all the while I hunted Luthor. I could never stay on his trail for more then a few weeks at a time, and never got an opportunity to talk to him alone. When he was holding me hostage, that was when I first learned that he knew of Serenity. I never suspected that the man I was hunting was spying on me, looking in on my life like a scientist observing a mouse in a maze."


	7. The Truth?

**A/N: I reached 15 reveiws! I'm in my happy place . One important thing: I didn't do any research when I decided she went to Harvard Med school, I now I realize it doesn't fit with her living in NYC, considering Harvard is in...uhm...not NYC. So lets all pretend that I never said Harvard, that I actually said Cornell Med School. I know, I know, its a careless mistake, but I think I'm allowed one seeing as this is my first fic. Oh, before I forget I noticed in the reveiws that a few people asked if I had taken ideas from other books or shows. Anways, for the most part no. The idea behind Equus, her story, her character, her appearance, her weapons, her love of horses, her...well you get the idea, is completley mine. ALL MINE! MWAHAHA! Er...sorry. Anyways, I did take smaller details from other sources. For instance, while I was looking for a good way to kill off the best friend, I watched the House, M.D. episode "Three Stories" in which the lead charcter has an infarction. So the idea for the infarction came from there. Towards the end of the story I might put in a scene that is similar to a scene from the graphic novel and movie "V for Vendetta." And I might possibly have her use her knives like Wolverine's claws (X-men) just because he's awesome. I guess I should mention that I do plan to include more Greek mythology, and while most of it will true (er...a true myth?) I do plan to embelish some of it to fit my story. I won't contradict any myths, I will just take them further. Well...c'est tout (I have my french final tomorrow...scary)**

P.S.- the "profrane expression associated with the word 'assume'" that Alfred refers to later on in this chapter is this: when you assume you make an ass of me (or you). Alfred meant it to mean something like "when I assume I make an ass of myself."

P.P.S (or is it P.S.S.?)- I tried REALLY REALLY hard to make Aflred all proper. Please let me know if he said anything out of character, or if there is anyway I could make him better! Thanks.

oneredneckgoddess: To hear you say that you could visualize what I was describing fills me with that warm fuzzy feeling. Seriously, I was having major detail issues in the first chapter because I could see it playing out in my mind and then I just assumed you could too so I would forget to describe what anything looked like. After I post the next chapter, if you feel like I didn't address the Leauguer's response to Equus' story, or want to do it more thoroughly, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'm not sure if I did, so I left space in the chapter after the next one to embellish their reactions.

AnimeOtakuBara: Thanks! The same goes for you as I posted above: After I post the next chapter, if you feel like I didn't address the Leauguer's response to Equus' story, or want to do it more thoroughly, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'm not sure if I did, so I left space in the chapter after the next one to embellish their reactions.

balletangel19: I know! I can't imagine loosing my best friend at all...much less how Equus' friend died. I think I could endure the pain if I knew that it would be over in a set amount of time. Not knowing when it would, I don't think I could survive it. As I address in this chapter, Luthor was not watching Equus the whole time. I'm going to start to try answeing questions asked in reveiws by having a League member ask the same question. Let me know if that works out. Thanks again for the continuous reveiws.

the. dead. addict.: I think that line is my favorite too. I wrote it, and then when I reread the chapter I was really surprised with how good it sounded (I have issues with emotional stuff...I either make it comepletly underdone, or make it into some cheesy moment above and beyond all Halmark movies). She lines in NYC and goes to Cornell Medical School (Harvard? Who said Harvard? See my underlined note at the top if you have no idea what I'm talking about). As for why Luthor did not come after her, I'm going to have Batman ask her the same thing so the question is answered in the story. If I didn't answer it completley, let me know. Quick question: Is it tootles ot toodles?

Trickster91: I think Luthor has a major god complex problem, along with his sociopathic and psycotic problems. Yup, Luthor is most definitley a grade 1 jerk. I have read about two pages from the book "A Child Called It" when I happened to pick it up in a bookstore. I had to put it down, it was so sad! Writing Equus' story is a lot easier because I know its fiction, but reading the book and knowing it had actually happened was horrible.

WiccanWitch14: Yesh, your "answer-thingy" was the longest. IN answer to your first question, I'm going to have Superman ask her the same thing in this chapter, but if you feel I didn't answer it completely, just let me know. I have heard of the Dark Angel series, but don't know the plot and have never seen it. Now go take your time out for sticking out your tongue. Or I'll sick Equus on you! -points to corner- (Hehe, your answer-thingy wasn't the longest this time :-PP)

Equus sat quietly, looking down at her hands. The Leaguers sat across from her, and each seemed to be lost in their own thought. There was a silence, a silence neither comfortable nor strained. Equus could hear Alfred bustling in the background; he had left when she had started to talk although she was sure he had heard all of it. Silently, Equus reached into a hidden pocket inside her cape, and pulled out a disk case. She handed it over to Batman. For a second Batman looked startled, then confused. He glanced down at the disk, with barely concealed amazement.

"Is this...is it..." For once the Dark Knight was at a loss for words.

"Everything on the computer hard drives. Most of it was encrypted but I managed to decode almost all of it. There are still several larger files, probably video, that I was unable to decrypt. You might have better luck then me." Equus responded, her voice sounding detached. She sounded annoyed, as if someone had asked her for the time while she was in a hurry. She did not sound sad, or depressed; she just sounded cold.

"Why are you still alive? You have evidence against Luthor, evidence that could send him to jail. He's killed people for less then that. And why didn't you go to the police?" Batman did not mean to interrogate her, but he was curious. He still did not completely believe her story, although he felt himself, almost against his will, trusting her more.

"At first I thought it was because he couldn't find me. He still doesn't know what I look like now; I doubt he would recognize me walking on the streets. He hasn't been spying on me the whole time; otherwise he probably would have struck sooner. He didn't find me until a newspaper put out an article about a mysterious vigilante with a sword and knives who resides in Washington Square Park. He managed to make the connection, and I guess he must have seen Serenity fly me home one of those nights. He didn't strike right away because he was not sure where the disk was. When he realized I had it on me, that was when he grabbed me. As to why I didn't go to police: that would have been naive. Any evidence against him would have been misplaced, or lost, or destroyed. I would have either disappeared before I could testify, or I would be discredited as a little girl with an overactive imagination who wanted some publicity." She finished speaking with disgust dripping from her voice. Batman had to admit, she was probably right about what would have happened to any evidence she had against him.

As Equus moved to hand the disks over, Batman caught a glimpse of dark red blood. There was a trail of it down the back of her right arm; the one that had been bit by Copperhead.

"You're bleeding." He stated the fact, realizing on some level that bleeding was not a good thing, but he was still so shocked by her story that he was unable to connect concern to his statement. It was Alfred who hurried over, and after taking one glance at the shell-shocked League members, he tried to usher her into a separate room he frequently used to patch up Batman.

"Please follow me young miss. I have a fair bit of experience with treating injuries." Alfred beckoned the young girl, motioning that she should follow him. Equus was about to shake her head no, but she knew that the League members needed some time to discuss what they had been told. She realized that they would not feel comfortable talking about her experience in front of her, so with a sigh of resignation she followed Alfred into an adjoining room.

As Alfred moved to remove her cape, Equus took a step forward out of his reach. She then proceeded to do it herself. She first took off her sword and then her cape, and finally the scarf tied around her eyes. They knew who she was, they knew her story, and for once Equus felt that there was nothing to be gained by hiding.

Alfred peered over her shoulder as she undressed, and was having a hard time seeing the wound. In fact, he did not see anything except some blood on the suit, near the back of her shoulder. He thought that if she had gotten hurt there should have been some sort of tear in the fabric, but all he saw was blood.

"Miss, I think you are going to have to change out of your suit. Somehow you managed to injure yourself without damaging your clothing."

"It's a special type of material. The edges of the material attract each other like magnets, so tears close up automatically." She explained automatically. After responding, she pressed a small, almost invisible button on her left hip. Suddenly a clear break in the material was visible, from the nape of her neck down to the bottom of her back.

"The suit is polarized. That's how it repairs itself, and why energy weapons, such as a Green Lantern's ring, won't work on it. You turn off the polarization, and its basically normal clothing." She stepped out of the suit, revealing a black sports bra and black spandex lose-rise capris, like the kinds that bikers or joggers wore. Even in her under garments, she revealed less skin then Wonder Woman's suit.

With her skin exposed, Alfred could easily see the ugly wound on her right shoulder. It was a huge bruise, spanning over the entire back and front of her shoulder. There were two small, yet deep, puncture wounds on the front of her shoulder, but they seemed to be healing well. On the back of her shoulder was a gaping wound, like someone had stabbed her with two jagged knives, twisted them, and then jerked them around causing the two separate wounds to become even bigger and merge into one. Alfred could easily see a long black thread where someone had stitched it up, and the gauze bandage that had been placed over it. The bandage had fallen off, and Alfred watched as the blood-soaked gauze gently floated to the floor. She had torn her stitches and instead of holding the wound closed, the thread hung down her back. Dried blood had caked around the wound, but fresher blood still dripped down her back. It formed a small rivulet, running down her pale skin.

Equus craned her neck around, trying to see the back of her shoulder. In doing so she accidentally pulled at the wound and winced at the twinge of pain. Alfred saw her wince, and quickly pushed her down onto a stool. He walked over to a drawer and pulled out a tray containing a needle, thread, gauze, tape, and a disinfectant. A small tube of cream lay on the tray, next to the gauze.

Alfred walked over the other side of the room and washed his hands, and then pulled on gloves. As he did so, Equus pulled down the right side of her bra, fully exposing the wound. He walked back to her and used the gauze to clean up the worst of blood. The material of her suit had actually kept the wound fairly clean, so he went straight to rinsing out the blood. He picked up the tube of cream, and spread it on her wound and the surrounding skin.

"The cream will numb your skin, so that I may stitch it more comfortably." Alfred commented, slightly disturbed by her unresponsiveness. Alfred continued to work, threading the needle and slowly stitching the wound back together. When he finished, he carefully bandaged her shoulder.

"I understand you have some cracked ribs too, miss. Why don't you turn around and let me have a look. At the very least they need to be re-bandaged." Equus seemed slightly taken aback by his knowledge or her injures. Seeing her confusion, Alfred elaborated, "Master Bruce made sure that any updates logged into the Watchtower computer were sent to his computer here too. That includes logs of all resent missions. I must confess, one does not live with Master Bruce for 40 years without becoming quite curious."

"It's fine, I can do it." Equus said gruffly, not happy at being unable to care for her shoulder injury. She had tried, but it was located just out of her reach, and it would have been impossible to stitch it with only one hand.

"And may I assume that you are completely qualified to do so?"

"I'm in medical school. I could restart your heart and get you breathing again, and I will have no trouble bandaging a cracked rib." She wore the same annoyed expression, but Alfred thought he sensed a slight air of amusement in her response.

"I believe that there is a rather profane expression associated with the word 'assume' that utilizes the buttocks. I does seem however, that such an expression might be particularly well suited in this scenario." Alfred knew that he saw the side of her mouth quirk up at that, and inwardly he congratulated himself.

Equus peeled off the old bandage from her ribs, and proceeded to tape them up with a new one. Suddenly, she felt...something. Like someone in the other room was whispering but she could not make out what they were saying. She recognized the sensation, it happened when a telepath sent out thoughts to someone near her. Years of training from Serenity had allowed her to become far more in-tune to telepathy then most humans. She could not make out what was being said, but only knew that J'onn was telling Alfred something.

Alfred nearly had a heart attack when he heard the deep, level voice of J'onn in his head.

Try and keep her occupied for as long as possible. There is much for us to discuss which would not be acceptable to discuss in front of her.

J'onn felt Alfred's mental nod of agreement, and Alfred turned to Equus.

"Perhaps you would like something to eat or drink when you are done. The kitchen is upstairs, you need only to follow me." Alfred usually brought food down to the cave or dining room, in fact the only people who were ever in the kitchen were himself and the other hired help, but it was the only way he could think of to distract her.

Equus frowned, and was about to shake her head when she made the connection.

"J'onn told you to stall me? So that they have more time to talk alone?" At Alfred's puzzled nod, she continued. "I could sense he was sending you a telepathic message, although I didn't know what he said; I just guessed. Sure, food's fine." Equus stood up, and followed Alfred up the stairs into another wing of the house.

Batman had watched as Alfred led Equus into the other room, and had mentally berated himself for not noticing earlier that she was hurt. Rising to his feet, he walked over and placed the disk into the computer.

"It...can't be true...it just...can't be." Flash said, having finally regained his voice.

"Flash is right. She must be lying, we would have noticed a hundred people disappearing at once." Superman responded, but his voice carried a hint of doubt in it. Wonder Woman and GL looked on silently, but they seemed to agree with Flash.

"Of course. Because nothing bad could happen to anyone as long as you're watching over them." Batman responded sarcastically.

"Bruce, we would have noticed if Luthor was kidnapping anyone, especially that many people." Superman argued.

"Right, because you knew that Luthor was going to kill that scientist, and that reporter, but you decided to wait until their bodies floated up on shore to tell us. Face it, over 2,000 children go missing everyday in the US, but you're to busy saving the world to realize it. The kids and their parents could have gone missing from any state in the US. They could have even come from Canada or other countries. We don't even know how long of a period of time he took them all over. Luthor could have spread it out over a week, a month, a year, or even three years. You can't be everywhere at once, and if you focus on every child that goes missing, then even more will die." Batman glared at Superman while tapping the keyboard impatiently, waiting for the disk to load.

"I do believe she spoke the truth." J'onn said quietly. Everyone turned to look at him.

"I thought you couldn't read her mind?" GL asked.

"Normally she maintains a telepathic barrier around her mind. However, as she spoke she lived through her experience in her mind, and these thoughts, images, and emotions were unconsciously projected for me to see. I could see quite vividly what she was describing, and although another telepath could imagine something that never happened and project it as she did, I do believe that it would be beyond the capabilities of a human or any other non-telepath." J'onn looked as stoic as ever, but underneath his passive expression, there was a hint of remorse.

"Finally." Batman grumbled as the disk loaded. He opened one file, which revealed profiles on several children. Another file showed the cellular break down of the clones. He searched and found the folder containing all the unencrypted files. Glancing at their sizes, he guessed that Equus was right; they were probably video. He double clicked on the largest file and a page of gibberish opened up. He closed the file, and dragged its icon across the screen, finally dropping it inside one of the many decryption programs he had created. This specific one he had created to decode a video file sent to him by the Joker.

For a few seconds nothing happened, and the Leaguers waited with anticipation as the machine hummed. Then there was a slight beep, and the default video player engaged. Without hesitation Batman pressed the "play" button and was completely unprepared for what he saw.


	8. The Fight

**A/N: Again...really sad. Honestly, I did not mean this story to be so sappy so I hope to soon get to the butt kicking. Thanks to everyone who reveiwed, I finally reached 25 reviews! I was also wondering if anyone here watches House, MD. I might consider making a housegetssickfic so if anyone watches House, let me know if that would interest you. Thats all for now!**

**oneredneckgoddess: Wow, as good as really good chocolates? Thats probably one of the best compliments I could ask for, considering that I'm a slight chocoholic. I felt that I needed some sort fo joke to lighten he mood and since I love Alfred as a character, I decided to have him deliver it. Glad you liked it!**

**Trickster91: Alfred is really caring, but imagine trying to tend to Batman's wounds! I think only Alfred and other superheros could do it without getting mauled by Batman. Talk about being a bad patient! Equus would probably kill you for even suggesting that Equus needs a protector. Serenity is not exactly a protector, more like a buffer. When Equus sinks down to low, or strays off the right path, Serenity gently pushes her back on track. You'll learn more about Serenity and why her interference in Equus's life was not just allowed by Zeus, but also necessary. It's hinted at lightly in the line "the creature would be a beacon of hope to all other girls and women who could one day become as evil as Medusa herself" (second chapter, the creature meaning Serenity). The underlined part is more key, and you will see the full extent of Serenity's influence later on. As for whether Equus owns her own horse, that will also be explored later on when I go into more depth on how Equus makes enough money to go to college, and who shes known as at school.**

**Makai Senki Disgaea: Wow, thanks! But I'm sure there are better fics that you have read recently...your own for one. I've only just started "Harsh Justice" so i'm gonna wait until I finish all eight chapters to review, but so far its really good!**

**WiccanWitch14: Ok, fine, I won't make you Superman ever again IF you don't sick you creations on me. Deal? Anyways, what do you mean about viruses? I don't think I mentioned a virus...or maybe I'm just going nuts. Uhm, I gave Trickster91 a really long reply so I have to babble for a while to make yours longer. Oh...the things I do for a review! o0o, that rhymed! I'm a poet and I dind't even know it. Weeeeeeheeeeeeee, talking about nothing is fun! Ok, now its getting kind of boring. Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, pushing random buttons:sdfguhniuhvnstnucgbrtbcurthdducvhsgdigniduybveriuthgbsuithi utwurtyurtybiurtyeurtyueirtyeir yryteryerukgidyn grutyn roithn hfkgenrty8456u8f9 n5689n ry58 n85 n. You know what, thats it! You'll just have to be happy with that length. So there:-PP**

**NO name: Yeah, Equus's story is pretty sad but it was necessary to put her through a truly traumatic, life changing experience in order to further the story.**

**sfiehas: I'm working on it! NoW that school is out, I should have more time to work on it.**

**balletangel19: Thanks a lot, and you too. You msut be thrilled to have finished "Missing Pieces" and "Ying and Yang" is the perfect way to continue it!**

**the. dead. addict.: Updating now! And I don't think Woner Woman is a whore, in a land without men the concept of modesty would not have been an issues. I actually like her ignorance as to what affect her body has on men, it's cute! The reaosn I included that line was because I wanted to establish that Equus is by no means flashy and that even in the bear minimum of her clothing she shows a modest amount of skin compared to other super hero women. I personally like all the constumes and I probably dress more flashy then Equus, so her clothing is not a reflection of my tastes, more a reflection of her character. Intially I wanted to give her a skirt, but I decided it didn't fit with the character. Toodles with oodles of poodles eating noodles!**

**Shadow-stalker22: Ohmigod, really! Thanks so much. And I'm trying to write as much as possible now that schoold out and I don;t have to worry about grades and everything. Ugh, I think that colleges should just accept people in alphabet order. Harvard takes A-G, Princeton takes H-N, and Yale can take O-Z. Then everyone will be happy!**

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A large white room appeared on the computer screen. It was shaped like a dome, with an extremely high ceiling. The walls looked like some sort of metal, from the way they reflected the light and they were set on the walls in plates. The floor seemed to be made from the same material, and the cracks in between the metal plates formed a grid on the floor. The only disturbance in the white walls was a window; located on the wall in front of the video camera that had obviously recorded the footage the Leaguers were now watching. The window was around six feet tall and ten feet wide, although it was hard to judge distance when the whole room was white. The window seemed to be a mirror, reflecting the image of a security camera back, but Batman guessed that whoever was on the other side of it could see in. On the wall to the right, between the window and the camera, was a door. It was barely indistinguishable from the wall except for the handle, lock, and hinges that protruded from the wall. Glancing carefully at the floor of the room, Batman squinted into the image on the computer screen. He could not tell if he was imagining it, but a portion of the floor seemed to be opening, like elevator doors lying flat on the ground. It was hard to tell, because if the floor was opening then whatever was underneath was just as white as the room. Now Batman was sure that he was not imagining it, there was definitely a large gap in the floor and three figures seemed to be rising upwards, into the room.

As the figures came into clear view, her heard a collective intake of breath from four the Leaguers standing next to him. Batman probably would have gasped too, but somehow he has suspected...he had seen the title of the file: "GSvs.SFMMclones: FNLStage: CellDecompBGN" Now he could easily decode the title: GS was Gaia Seltamis, SFMMClones were the Superman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter clones. Final stage, meaning the clones were at full power, and the cellular decomposition had begun. _This must be around the time her mother was killed, _Batman realized with an inward wince.

Batman had no trouble recognizing the three figures in the middle of the room. The first was tall and muscled, with dark hair. A small piece of hair hung down his forehead, right above his eye. The figure next to him was easily identifiable: tall man, also muscled, with red eyes and green skin. Finally Batman let his eyes settle on the third figure, which was completely enveloped by his clothing. Batman could still easily tell who he was, as the maroon suit gave it away. Each cloned was dressed in the exact same fashion as the beings that they shared their DNA with. The first figure wore a large red "S" on his chest, surrounded by blue with a red cape flowing down his back. The second figure wore a red "X' across his chest, from the top of which a blue capped stemmed from. It swooped up in the back, stopping at the middle of his head and fanning out. The third wore a suit that covered his whole body, leaving only his eyes, nose and mouth exposed. It was maroon, with a yellow lighting bolt on the chest, and two lighting bolts stemming off the hood, one on either side of his head.

The sick bastard. He had to make the clones wear the same thing? What does he get out of seeing Superman beat up a kid? Batman was seething with anger, and was dreading what he would see next.

The three clones wore identical emotionless expressions. Their eyes had a vacant look to them, as if they were asleep with their eyes open. Their mouths were all twisted down in a nasty sneer that seemed wrong on the three superheroes' faces. Their body posture seemed completely relaxed as the platform on which they stood leveled out with the floor of the room. They stood still, waiting for whatever was coming next.

Just then the door to the left of the camera opened, and a girl was thrown in the room. She wore white, loose fitting white capris and a white tank top. It was hard to tell she was a girl, as her head was completely shaved of all hair and she had not yet started to develop a chest. She looked to be around eleven or twelve years old, but she could have been older or younger. Her eyes were a deep green, and her mouth was soft and vulnerable. She had a stubborn chin and a delicate nose. Her skin was extremely fair, a light pale color that was barely darker then milk. The form fitting tank top showed her frame to be very skinny and frail looking. Batman could count her ribs showing through the shirt, but toned muscle covered her arms and shoulders. Her calves peaked through the bottoms of the capris, and Batman saw skinny, yet muscled legs. She was short and he guessed that she was around five foot.

As she raised herself to her feet, Batman saw her entire body tense and her hands drifted to the leather belt that secured a large group of knives to her lithe frame. She drew two, and stood stock still, quivering slightly with anticipation. Her face was one completely devoid of fear, and instead her face wore a cruel calculating look. Her mouth was twisted into a nasty sneer; nearly identical to the one the three clones opposing her wore. There was a second of tense silence, and then the unmistakably arrogant, haughty voice of Lex Luthor rang throughout the room. It uttered a single command: "kill."

It was as if someone was pressed the clones' "on" switch. In a second, the Superman clone had flew across the room, hurling himself at the girl's figure, as had the MM and Flash clones. The girl had jumped top the side, and barely escaped the impact. In a second she had a knife drawn and threw it at Flash. It missed by a foot, but Batman saw the maroon blur suddenly drop to the ground. The Flash clone seemed to be struggling to lift himself to his feet, as if some unseeable force weighted him down. The MM clone flew up towards the ceiling, and turned to stare at the girl. She drew another knife, and used it to stab the Superman clone now attacking her. Her first strike sliced open a long gash from wrist to elbow along the clone's attacking arm, but the clone still landed his punch, although its force was decreased. Even with decreased force, the punch connected squarely in the center of her face and sent her reeling backwards. Batman winced at the sound of cracking bone, and blood streamed down form her obviously broken nose.

Instead of falling to the floor, the girl twisted and caught herself with her arms behind her back. Pushing off her arms, she landed a square kick in the clone's stomach. The Superman clone barely seemed to feel it, but as it went to grab her she pushed two knives firmly into the clone's chest. _The knives must be kryptonite-tipped to affect him like that. The one she used on Flash must have somehow increased the gravitational pull in the surrounding area, just like the Thanagarian cell did. _Batman's scientific mind still connected the logic, even while he was preoccupied by the horrible scene unfolding in front of him. The Superman clone dropped, and she graceful flipped onto her feet. She dragged her hand across her face, attempting to clear the worst of the blood. She watched intently as the Superman clone staggered backwards, a dumbstruck look on its face.

Suddenly the expression on the girl's face changed to one of indescribable anguish, and she fell to her knees with a scream. She clutched her head with both hands, her entire body visibly shaking. She body heaved as she drew one ragged breath after another, and as Batman glanced upwards he saw the MM clone's eyes were glowing.

_Telepathic attack! _Batman realized with horrified awe.

For a few long moments Batman though he was going to see her die. He was about to turn off screen when Luthor's voice once again filled the room. "Stop. Await commands." The two simple commands ended the attack on the girl, and the MM clone slowly drifted to the floor. The Flash clone, unable to rise, went limp and the Superman clone had already lain on the floor, blood spurting from its chest.

The large window in the middle of the wall slid to the side, revealing Lex Luthor standing perfectly immaculate in a dark, tailored suit. His left hand swept an invisible speck of dust from his jacket, and he easily jumped down from the window to the floor of the room four feet below. Three large men that looked like bodyguards followed him as he walked towards the collapsed girl. Hearing his approach, the girl hoisted herself to her feet and faced Luthor head on. Luthor stared down at her, and started to speak.

"You're not trying your hardest. You haven't been vulnerable to telepathic attacks in months, don't think you can fool me." As the girl opened her mouth to protest, Luthor interrupted her. "Don't contradict me. Last chance." Luthor walked over the Flash clone and disabled the gravitational field. Luthor then walked back to window, and jumped up onto the ledge, followed closely by his bodyguards. The window slid back into place, blocking Luthor form view. Then the voice rang out once again, with the single word "kill."

The girl was unprepared for the command, she was still panting harshly and recovering form the telepathic attack. The Flash clone was on its feet instantly, and hurled itself at the girl. She was unprepared for the force he hit her with, and without having had time to brace herself she ended up skidding across the room, finally slamming into the far wall. The majority of the impact was absorbed into her shoulder and back, causing a shockwave of pain to radiate through her entire body. The Flash clone, thrown slightly off balance by the collision, also slammed into the wall, unable to slow himself with the limited space available to him. The Flash clone lay on the floor temporarily stunned. She tried to take advantage of the moment and hurled a knife towards his unmoving figure, but a hard punch to her gut threw her aim off and caused to fall to her knees, gasping for breath. The knife flew wide, and landed a half dozen feet away from its target. As the girl started to rise, she saw the MM clone looming over her. He had materialized in front of her while she threw the knife, and landed the blow to her chest. Now it stooped down, and grabbed her in his hands. He raised her up from the floor, and gazing into her eyes, his own eyes started to glow red. The girl stared defiantly into his eyes. Her forehead wrinkled in concentration as she fought to resist the clone's attacking mind.

Meanwhile, the Flash clone was back on its feet. Having been momentarily stunned by the impact with the fall, he then had been unable to rise because of the knife. Although the knife had missed its mark by a fair distance, the gravitational field it emitted was still strong enough to hinder his movement. It took the Flash clone three full minutes to drag himself out of the knife's field.

The girl could feel the clone's mind hammering down her mental barriers just as a flash of maroon collided with her. This time, as she flew across the room the maroon blur did not stop. Instead, it swooped around taking another run at her prone figure. She struggled to at least grab a knife, but was unable to move her left arm. She tried to grab a knife with her right but had barely loosed it from her belt before she was once again flying across the room. She winced as the knife she had loosed from her belt slipped from her grip and imbedded itself into her right thigh.

She lay still, unable to breathe through the cloud of pain suffocating her. Her thigh was burning from the knife wound, her left shoulder felt like someone was stabbing a thousand needles into it, and a sharp ache in her stomach told her that she probably had some cracked ribs. Her head ached, and somewhere in the back of her mind she realized she probably had a concussion. She could not tell where the ground started and stopped, and where she tried to focus her eyes she felt so dizzy she almost through up. She could feel the blackness of unconsciousness threatening the close in around her she fought it desperately. She knew that if she fell unconscious now, she would be killed by clones and in turn her mother would be killed Luthor. So instead of slumping to the floor unconscious, she rallied the last reserves of her strength and fought valiantly to stand. She saw the Flash clone running around in a small circle, forming a tornado. The MM clone was still hovering in the air, trying to gain access to her mind. The tornado was heading towards her and she did the best she could to brace herself. Even if she threw a knife, the wind would propel it far enough away for it to have no effect. She clung to wall, desperate.

"Stop. Await commands." Luthor's mechanically amplified sounded crisply throughout the room. Luthor once again jumped into the room, this time with only one bodyguard in tow. He strode over to the girl, his face flushed with anger. His fists were clenched at his side and his countenance was so unlike the normally calculating, detached man Batman was accustom to. Batman realized that the clones in the video must have already started their cellular decay. Equus had said that Luthor seemed irrational and angry once that had happened, and the Luthor in the video certainly seemed angry.

"You fing little btch! I warned you! You lazy, arrogant, stupid, little..." Luthor looked ready to physically strike the girl and only her quick, stumbling step to the left prevented his vicious blow from being landed. The girl was still clinging onto the wall for support. She stared at Luthor, a look of awe and defiance on her face. She seemed completely taken aback by the rage in Luthor's actions. A loud creaking distracted both Luthor and the girl and they turned to look at the door where the sound had come from. Luthor's two other bodyguards entered, dragging a young-ish women between them.

The women looked around thirty years old, although her ragged appearance made it hard to guess her age. She was extremely malnourished and her loose skin clung to her bony frame just like her too big white t-shirt and pants. Only the drawstring on her pants kept them up, and the shirt kept sliding off her shoulder. Her long hair was matted to her head and her skin was gray and ashen. Her hair seemed dark brown but whether that was its natural color or it was actually lighter and was just filthy was impossible to tell. Despite her appearance, Batman could easily see that she was naturally beautiful. She had large, doe-like blue eyes, bee-stung puffy lips, a delicate nose and a soft chin. She was tall, and through the loose clothing Batman could still see her feminine curves and he guessed that at one point the women had actually been fairly voluptuous. She carried herself upright, with a dignified air. She cast a disdainful glance to the men on either side of her and their mouths twisted into disgusting smiles, as if recounting some particularly lewd joke. The women looked around curiously, seemingly unsurprised by the three superhero clones scattered around the room. When her gaze finally fell upon the form of the young girl, the corners of the woman's lush mouth turned downwards and her face took on a look of great concern.

"Gaia?" The women aimed her question at the girl, a question in her voice.

"Mom!" The girl's face took on a look of astonishment and for a brief second Batman was sure he saw pure, unfiltered joy flash across the girl's features before the smile dropped from her lips. A mixture of emotions replaced her joy, a combination of concern, anger, love, hate, and defiance. Some emotions aimed towards her mother's sudden appearance, others aimed towards Luthor's large form that was now striding towards the woman.

The girl started to walk towards the woman and was almost at her side when two bodyguards stopped her. Luthor grabbed the woman around her neck and roughly drew her towards him. The girl tried to fight off the guards, but in her already weakened state the two large men were able to restrain her. Luthor grabbed one of the knives that the girl had thrown form the floor with one hand, his over still firmly encircling the woman's throat. Neither the woman nor the girl seemed to realize what was going on until too late. With one swift motion, Luthor slid the knife across the woman's throat, slitting her throat. For a second, no one moved. The woman's mouth moved silently and Batman relied on his lip reading ability to tell what she said: I love you Gaia. I will love you forever my darling, beautiful daughter. I am sorry that you have lived in this hell, but now you can be free. Keep me in your heart, but not in your mind. Think of your friends, your boyfriend, your husband, your children, your grand children. Do not think of me, for there is no need: I know I will be in your heart forever and there is nothing to be gained by remembering me and this place.

With those words, the woman's eyes closed and her head drooped. Luthor released his grip and the woman started to fall towards the floor. The guards released their grip on the girl and she ran to her mother, catching her dying body before it hit the floor. The girl sunk to the ground, her mother in her arms. Tears streamed down the girl's face, mingling with the blood flowing freely from her mother's neck. The girl's frame shook violently as she sobbed. She spoke softly and Batman had to strain to catch her words.

"Mom. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I should have been faster, stronger, better. Mom...Mommy...I love you." The girl's wilted frame collapsed over her mother's dead body, the shock and exhaustion preventing her from supporting herself any longer.

Luthor loomed over them, has face twisted into a cruel sneer. With a barely perceivable wave of his hand, he motioned to his guards. Two of them walked over, and one bent down, grabbing the dead woman's hand. He started to drag her towards the door, but the girl clung on to her body. The other guard went to pull the girl off, ignoring her frantic cries. The guard pulled harder and the girl finally seemed to notice him. Her tear streaked face twisted into a look of such pure hate that seemed out of place on the young girl. Quickly shuffling to her feet, the girl cocked back her wounded leg and propelled it into the guard's groin. He yelled out a curse and sank down the floor cupping his crotch. The girl then launched herself at the guard, stabbing him quickly with one of the knives hanging from her belt, getting him directly in the heart. He dropped to the floor quietly, not having time to yell or scream. The body of the woman lay on the floor next to the dead guard, but the girl ignored it. Instead, she whirled around grabbing another knife. Spying Luthor, she ran towards him with the intent of killing him.

Seeing her intentions, Luthor thought quickly. "Clones. Defend." With those commands the Flash and MM clones sprang to life. The Flash clone was the quickest and had slammed the girl aside before the MM could blink.

The girl had heard Luthor's hurried command and the next thing she knew she was once again experiencing the sickening sensation of flying across the room. She had once again been caught off guard, but unlike the time before she had not even been able to twist in the air and take the impact on her shoulder instead of head or neck. She slammed down on the floor, taking the impact square on the bottom of her head and neck. She felt a strange tingling run down her legs and arms. She tried to move her toes but could not. Then she tried to move her fingers and was relieved that she could. Using her arms, she pushed herself to a sitting position. She once again tried to move her toes and found that she could move her right leg but not her left. She gasped in horror at what she saw: somehow when she fell she had broken her thighbone, probably during the initial impact, and the jagged end of the bone was now visible through the stab wound on her thigh. She hoisted herself to her feet, using her good arm and good leg. She tried carefully to keep her left shoulder and right leg still, but could not help jostling them as she steadied herself on her feet. She was beyond feeling pain and she barely felt the stabs of pain that accompanied her movements. She saw Luthor still sneering at her, and threw caution into the wind. She flew at him, pushing off with both legs. It was the last straw for her bad leg, and the force of pushing off the ground caused the bone to push through the skin on her leg. She screamed with pain, anger, hatred, sorrow, frustration, and exhaustion as she drew her knife in mid air. With a desperate strike she managed to slash his bicep before the Flash clone once again pummeled into her. The last blow finally kept her down. She barley managed to lift her head enough to see them drag away her mother before unconsciousness stole her over. A single tear slid down her cheek as the video screen froze.

Batman, Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Gl and J'onn all stared silently at the screen.

Finally, Superman broke the silence. "I wonder if she survived."

With a start Batman realized that Superman had not made the connection. Before he could say anything a quiet voice responded.

"She did. She had a broken left femur, right collar bone, right rotator cuff, right wrist, severe concussion and skull fracture, and a hangman's fracture in her neck but she survived." All of League whipped their heads around to look at Equus, and in that moment they all understood.


	9. All is Revealed

**A/N: I am SOOOO sorry that it took this long to update. I went away for a week, and then for another week end and I've been really busy. I am going to try to post longer chapters, and post more frequently. Anyways. I'm trying to decided where I want this story to go...if I want to end it in a few chapters and then start a new story, like the next book in a series. Either that or just make this one story with a lot and lot of chapters. And I mean a lot, because I want her to have some stories with the League before I kill her off. I also REALLY want to write a songfic with her, but that I'm going to save until her death. Anways, I'm leaning towards making a new story with her, but it would start where this story leaves off. Don't worry, I wouldn't leave you hanging!**

**oneredneckgoddess: Lol! I'm so glad you like the story so much, and I'm sorry to keep you waiting for so long. Finally, here's the next chapter!**

**the. dead. addict.: She's 17. I purposedly did not say what she looks likes yet, although I did say what she looked like in the video tape. In this chapter I finally describe her current appearance.**

**Trickster91: Superman has major denile problems. I want to convert the Justice League setting into the Justice League Unlimited setting by having Equus leave the JL for a while and then come back when its JLU. I do want to address the fact that there is another pegasus (Winged Victory). Don't worry, you'll see something between Serenity, Equus, Shining Knight, and Victory!**

**WiccanWitch14: lol, yeah I'd say Equus needs major counseling. Although she would most definitley severly injure you for suggesting it. Hm...that could be interesting to have Flash suggest counseling and have her attack him. I say Flash because I doubt any of the other members are that tactless. Oh, and Equus says thank you for the cookie although she accidentally used the balloon for target practice.**

**Makai Senki Disgaea: Thanks so much! I know it got kind depressing, but I'm glad you still enjoyed it.**

**balletangel19: I warned you you might want tissues!**

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Flash could understand what Equus had meant when she had said that she doubted Luthor would be ale to recognize he even if he saw her, especially is Luthor had last seen Equus as the young girl in the video. The only reason that Flash actually recognized Equus as the girl in the video was that he had seen the video seconds before seeing Equus. If he had seen Equus on the streets a month, even a week later he doubted that he would have made the connection.

It was not as if the girl had grown at all: she had not. She was still the same height: short and petit at around 5 foot. Standing in very little clothing, it was much easier to compare Equus' body to the girl's. Equus' frame had filled out slightly, as she had developed fuller chest; although on the smaller side it fit perfectly with her athlete's body. The rest of her body seemed to remain unchanged; she still had the same skinny arms and legs. On first glance she appeared weak and frail, but a closer look revealed defined muscles that gave her an elegant, graceful appearance and seemed to balance out her otherwise bony frame.

The young girl's face had been captivating to see. It had an innocent quality about it, an endearing cuteness, like that of an angel or a cherub. Equus's face had changed a lot, just in the years since the video. Her face had become much more defined and sharper. It had lost it's angelic appearance and instead took on a colder beauty, more associated with the cold goddess Artemis then with the angelic goddess Aphrodite. Equus had a type of radiance about her that was not at all inviting, but drew you in nonetheless. She possessed the same soft mouth and lush lips but did not have the bee-stung-puffy lips of her mother. Her chin was also the same: entirely stubborn, and jutting out softly. The girl's once delicate nose now sported a small bump, apparently from a broken nose. Her eyes were perfectly slanted and long, luscious eyelashes framed her eyes. On first glance her eyes appeared to be a piercing green, slightly lighter then Hawkgirl's. However, as Flash studied her he realized that he eyes were not actually green. A band of yellow color surrounded her pupil. The yellow then melded with the light blue color that surrounded it, which made her eyes appear green at a glance. Her skin was the exact same pale color and it glowed slightly in the dimness of the Batcave.

The most startling thing about Equus's appearance was her hair. In the video her head had been shaved, and before her hair had been hidden under her hood and scarf. Somehow Flash had assumed that this fiery girl would either have red hair to match her temper, or black hair to fit with her seemingly depressed state of mind. He had most definitely expected her to have short hair shoved under her cloak because from what Flash had seen, he very much doubted that she put much thought into her appearance. What Flash had not been expecting were the waves of pale blonde hair that cascaded down her back. The color was a cross between gold and platinum, almost like a light champagne color. It hung down her body, sweeping past her milky shoulders and down her back, finally ending at the top of her thighs. Flash had never seen real hair so long on a person before, except on that episode of Ripley's Believe it or Not, which he had only watched because the episode after it had been about the fastest man alive, The Flash. Two braids, one on either side of her head, ran from right above her temple to the back of her head where they met. Those two then twisted together and joined the rest of her hair the flowed down her back like a waterfall. Her hair was almost perfectly straight, with a slight, natural wave to it.

Flash was not only taken a back by her obvious beauty, but also by the way that she carried herself. She moved with the grace of an athlete, but that came as no surprise after watching her fight. She stood tall and proud, making herself appear taller and older then she actually was. But what struck Flash most about her stance was that she seemed completely un aware of how beautiful she was, or did not seem to care. Flash was a sucker for a gorgeous girl, and he knew it. One thing he loved about beautiful girls, more so then their appearance, was the confidence they had. They know that they are beautiful, and know that everyone else knows it too. They wear their beauty like a badge, and their confidence tended to borderline on arrogance. Flash did not mind this, his general opinion was that if you have it, be proud and know that you have it. That was how he dealt with his amazing super speed, his super hero status, and most of all his amazing looks.

Equus did not step with the tentative air that most girls who did not think they were beautiful did. Instead, she acted like she thought she was ugly and was daring someone to say something about it. Everything about Equus seemed to dare anyone to challenge her: the way her left hand kept stroking the blade of her sword, the way her right hand kept sheathing and unsheathing a small knife, the way he left leg was cocked, ready to strike. Flash did not need to have Batman's powers of observation to see how tense she was, or to see that she was on the verge of either striking of fleeing.

Flash, Superman, GL, J'onn and Wonder Woman all regarded Equus carefully. Batman started to pace, walking around the cave in a circle, thinking. Equus stood there, looking around them and studying their reaction. Out of nowhere, Batman stepped towards Equus and ran a single finger down her back. Equus noticeably flinched at the unexpected contact, and whirled around quickly to face him, her sword unsheathed. She took up a fighting stance and stood there glaring at him. Batman raised the single finger to nose and inhaled. The rest of the Leaguers looked at him with varying degrees of confusion, suspicion, and dread. Batman seemed somehow satisfied with something and brought his hand back down to his side. Looking Equus straight in the eye, he spoke to the Leaguers.

"I believe her." Batman said in a commanding tone. Superman's widened in shock at his statement, and he opened his mouth to protest. Unfortunately, Flash beat him to it and spoke first.

"Quick Superman, right that down! That's a front page story right there, I can see it now: 'Batman trusts someone. Get the inside scoop on his shocking exclamation! Only with the Dailey Planet'" Despite the seriousness of the situation, the side of Wonder Woman's mouth quirked up slightly in and effort to fight down her smile. Flash noticed, and seemed delighted that someone, especially an Amazon Princess, had found him funny. Equus looked, if possible, even more disgusted and glared at Flash so harshly that Flash was convinced her glare would melt his boots where the super speed friction had not.

Superman finally found his voice. "I'm sorry Bruce, but I just don't see how its possible." He turned to Equus and said, "I would like to believe you, I really would, but its just not possible that this could happen under our watch."

The harsh, scathing bark of laughter that escaped Equus's mouth at that statement burned Superman's ears.

"Look at her back. The scar, do you recognize it?" Batman pointed to the scar he was talking about. The scar was actually made up of two parallel lines, about a half-inch thick and located a few inches apart. They were raised, like a burn wound. They ran diagonally from the top of her left shoulder, all the way down her back finally stopping just below her right hip. The Leaguer's all moved and looked at the scar. Wonder Woman, GL, and J'onn all stared at her back grimly while Flash still seemed just as confused. Superman craned his head to see why they were looking so upset, and blanched at the scar. His whole face drained of all color and abruptly he turned away, still looking sick.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm missing something here?" Flash asked, with a slight feeling of dread.

"Look at the scar. The pattern of it is quite distinctive and easily recognizable. " Batman stated in an irritated tone of voice, stressing the "easily" bit. Seeing Flash's annoyed, yet still confused look, Superman jumped in.

"Me. I did it. My laser vision left those marks. My clone did that...that's why Batman believes her. I'm assuming you made sure it wasn't make-up or faked." At Batman's curt nod, Superman felt even sicker then he had as he had said the words. He recognized the scars as soon as he saw them. He saw them after almost every fight, the haunting double scorch marks that reminded him of his power to destroy. And here they were: on a young girl, an innocent girl, standing right in front of him.

"Not you...the clone. Never you." Wonder Woman said comfortingly. Superman barley glanced at her, instead trying and failing to look Equus straight in the eye.

"It doesn't matter. Its my fault, I should have killed Lex when I had the chance." Superman said with a passion, spitting venom with every word.

"You would not have been able to." Superman jerked his head up and stared at Equus in shock. He was startled to hear her speak, as well as by what she said. Before he could open his mouth to argue his point, she continued.

"Even if he was standing in front of you right now, you would not be able to kill him. Knowing what he did to me...to the other children, even then you would not be able to kill him." Seeing Superman bow his head in shame, she added, "Don't be ashamed of that, its one of the things that defines you. You don't kill and to that's acceptable to you. Fine. But for me it is not. I use death as my own tool because fighting death, fighting something that is unavoidable, is even dumber then embracing it. Yes, I have killed people before and yes, I will kill more people. I will kill anyone that stands in my way, but always, I will try other methods first. Except Luthor. Luthor's death will be by my hand, and only my own death will prevent that from occurring. Oh, and please do not try and lecture me on the evils of death and killing, its too late for me to have a standard of morals."

Superman looked at her closely, studying her. Her felt responsible not only for what had happened to her, but also for what she had become: a murderer. He knew that on some level he needed to address her killing, needed to confront her, teach her, show her, repair her. She was damaged and it was his first instinct to fix her. He had tried and failed miserably to do the same thing with Bruce. He had pushed him to be Batman less and Bruce more and it had taken Superman a while to realize that Bruce had become the mask and that Batman was the man. Superman had finally come to terms with the fact that Bruce Wayne had died with his parents, and it was only Batman that kept him alive at all. Maybe if had known Bruce earlier, her could have helped him more but now it was too late.

Equus however...she was young. She could still be shown how to live a normal life. Maybe, in time, Equus could die and Gaia could live. He had felt the same way about Kara at first, but ultimately he had been forced to accept that being a superhero was in her blood. Equus...no, Gaia on the other hand had become a sort of vigilante through circumstances and the need to fight. But Superman had seen the intense look of focus on her face as she had bandaged her ribs, when he had peered through the walls to make sure she was occupied. She looked just as engaged as when she had been fighting and Superman was sure that practicing medicine could replace her need to fight. She was already on the track to a normal life: she was going to an Ivy League college, she was studying medicine, and she must have some friends at college. If they could just find Lex, find him with or without her and put him behind bars, maybe then she could lead a normal life. Superman was sure that once Lex had been brought to justice Gaia would let go of her insane need to kill Lex. That was how he could make it up to her: by ensuring that she led a life similar to one she would have led had Superman never allowed any of this to happen.

"We'll find Lex. We'll find him and bring him to justice. I promise." Superman meant this with all his heart.

"You don't understand, do you? How could you be so naive? Lex Luthor can be brought to justice by no one other then himself. He has enough money, power, and connections to escape any jail sentence. His death will be the only thing to stop him from hurting anyone else." Equus was furious now. The thickheaded Boy Scout did not only not understand her, but he was also underestimating her. Equus knew that Luthor would die by her hands as surely as she knew the sun would rise.

Surprisingly, it was J'onn that best understood her situation. Living on Mars with his wife and children, war and murder had been concepts to which little thought were given. When the invaders came, J'onn had been shocked at how easily war had come to even a peaceful race like his. Although technically the nerve gas did not kill, he and his kind would have been willing to kill every last invader to save their world. J'onn had read the thoughts of hundreds of humans, and he knew endless battle between good and evil that the human race faced. He had met many other species that could do as much good as the human race, and even more species that could do as much evil. But never before had he encountered a race that had such large capabilities for both. Every fight they had could tip the balance. If they started to lose, evil could overrule goodness and the human race could be turned bad permanently. Or if they kept winning, if the world saw that good really could conquer evil, the human race could take a permanent turn for the better. Equus was symbolic of the human race's constant struggle. He felt that her essence was good, that she had a good heart and could tell right from wrong. He felt that she would rescue, create, save, nurture and heal. Yet he knew for a fact that she had killed, and not just humans that were bad. Innocent people, who could have had families waiting for them at home, like the guards; their lives had been ended by her rage. She had killed, destroyed, hurt, harmed; yet he considered her to be good. The same could be said for his race. They had done whatever was necessary to survive, and she had done the same thing. J'onn could forgive her for taking lives, but he could not forget. Superman was the opposite: he could never forgive her, but sometimes he could forget.

A murderer was not someone that the Justice League would willingly accept into their midst, but Superman had a feeling that the general consensus would be that they would rather invite her into the League. This way, they could keep an eye on her while she fought and make sure she did not take things too far. She was also a potentially valuable source of information that could help them find Luthor. Plus, taking her into the League might help to show her how much good she could do as well as show her the consequences of murder.

Superman caught J'onn's attention telepathically and asked him to ask the other members if they agreed. Superman was surprised at the quick responses from the rest of League members, not only had they felt that taking in Equus would benefit her, but it might also help to have another person to shoulder the extra burden that Shayera's absence had caused. Get the go-ahead from J'onn; Superman took a deep breath and look Equus square in the eyes.

"Equus, I would like to extend an invitation from all of us for you to join the Justice League. It would start out on a provisional basis headed by a testing phase, but once we feel assured you would not be a liability we would gladly have you as a regular member of the League."


	10. Acceptance

**A/N: Okay, although this may suprise you, this is the last chapter in this story. After this chapter, I will write make a new story that continues where this one leaves of. I'll probably make around 3 or more stories with Equus in total, each chronicling a specific event that involves her and the League. Keep in mind that time will elapse in Equus's world between stories. The next story will probably take place a few weeks after this, but through Equus's and the League's memories it will be clearly outlined what happened in that time. The next story will be called Equus: The First Mission. I am terrible at making titles, so please excuse that small flaw.**

**As always, thank you to all my reviewers. **

**the. dead. addict.: Thankies! They didn't trust her, but Batman used her scar to convince them. Plus, if Batman trusts her then you kind of have to..you know? I took the hair color from myself, because I am blond. I hate the steryotype of airheady, prissy, and the whole 'blond moment' thing. I want Equus to have a 'blond moment' where she nearly dismembers everyone in her immediate vicinty. I also wanted to avoid the classic goth look with the black hair because I didn't think it would suit her, plus thats sooooo Wonder Woman. Ditto for red hair, that's Hawkgirl's look. **

**Trickster91: I like Superman and all, and I loved the movie Superman Returns, but I think he has denial issues, for example how he refuses to beleive that evil people are beyond saving. I thought that he would be unwilling to accept that something that horrible could happen on 'his watch'. Honestly, I don't blame him. The one thing I really felt could be annoying about him is that he seems like the type of person to try and 'fix' people. I could see him pushing Wonder Woman and Batman together just so that Batman would get more in touch with his 'feelings'. That kind of thing really annoys me. And I definitley have to read your story! I've been a little busy latley, but as soon as I get a chance I'll read it and review. And yeah, I'll 'kill' Equus. But consider that Batman 'died' in the pilot and that both Superman and Flash have been considered dead. Superheros are very resilent. If the stories continue to get reviwes, I'll probably bring her back. But there will be a few stories before her death.  
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**Makai Senki Disgaea: Seriously? Thank you so much! I was kind of worried that as I went along the story would start to decline, so I really appreciate the compliment.**

**WiccanWitch14: I think that Equus would prefer you to dish out bodily harm to Luthor rather then Superman...although both of them get on her nerves. Still, can you blame Superman for not wanting to believe her? But yes, Batman is soooo much cuter then Superman. I mean, Batman can keep his identity secret without wearing dorky glasses. Ooo, a kitty! I'll give it to Equus to use as a barn cat. Mucho thankies!**

**balletangel19: Don't feel rushed to review, I'm not going anywhere. And my next story is most likely going to be very Flash/Equus centric (as friends, not romanticly...yet...maybe), so you should like that.  
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Equus felt a coursing of emotions run through her as she heard Superman's invitation, but surprise was not one of them. Excitement, anger, satisfaction, all of those emotions fought for control. Equus had actually expected their invitation; she had assumed that upon learning her story they would want to take her into the League to protect her, as well as protect others from her. She was sure that if she asked them why they wanted her on the League they would give her some half-assed answer like "you could help us find Luthor" or "we need another member since Hawkgirl left" or even "you could be a valuable member of this team." Although those would be logical reasons to want her on the League, Equus very much doubted that any of the members really wanted help from someone they probably still saw as a child. She was angry with them for patronizing her and treating her like a child, yet felt a strange sense of satisfaction at having been able to predict their actions so well. 

Equus had always taken a great interest in people's psyches, and loved trying to read people. As soon as she had met Superman she had known that he would be the one to bring up the idea of inviting her, and even now she suspected that he was thinking up ways to 'fix' her or 'heal' her. Equus resented that immensely, but oddly she did feel a long forgotten sense of excitement at the prospect of joining the League.

Every night she roamed Washington Square Park and got her release by attacking the numerous drug dealers and skinheads she found in the park. She only attacked those who first made moves on her or other people in the park, but lately there had been less and less. She had tried going to the gym, but her first time there she had ruined the punching bag and gotten herself kicked out. Kickboxing classes, martial arts classes, yoga, body shaping, none of the classes offered at the gym gave her the release she desired. All they did was make her more frustrated by the rules and waiting she felt. In fact, fighting the androids had been the first time in a while that she truly felt satisfied; yet even that had ended too soon. When she did not get her release, she started to damage herself. She cracked her knuckles insistently, once doing it so forcefully she broke her finger. She also had a bad habit of biting her lip or inside of her cheek, and she would do that until she bled. The worst it had ever gotten was one day in class when a guy started to tease her: she nearly decapitated him with her ruler. She barely managed to control herself, instead taking it out on the wall of the girl's bathroom. The vicious punch she had landed on the tiling had actually cracked her wrist. She never did it on purpose, but somehow she always ended up getting hurt if other people did not.

It was recalling those feelings of frustration and desperation, not being able to satisfy the urge within her to fight and kill, which made her turn to Superman and say: "I accept."


End file.
